The Deal
by MysticLyght
Summary: Suna-verse AU: Sequel to The Exchange. After realizing his feelings for Sakura, Sasori goes to Konoha to assist with her puppet limb project and to woo her heart. Along the way, he came to know the shinobis of the Leaf, while Sakura, happy to have her new found friend by her side, reveals more and more of her past. Would feelings be exchanged or would someone break the deal?
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Hello! Welcome to the sequel of _The Exchange_. I decided to be - oh so original - and named this story _The Deal_. (Because after you made an exchange, you are technically making a deal.) For the new readers, I would highly recommend reading _The Exchange_ prior to this story since much of it would not make sense. The main reason I separated the two stories was because I wanted the first one to be have an ending, so that readers can have a "completed" story to read. However, I wanted to build on to that story and hence this sequel.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **P.S. The character tag kind of makes it obvious who the rival is going to be. kekeke**

Summary: After realizing his feelings for Sakura, Sasori goes to Konoha to assist with her puppet limb project and to woo her heart. Along the way, he came to know the shinobis of the Leaf, while Sakura, happy to have her new found friend by her side, reveals more and more of her past. Would feelings be exchanged or would someone break the deal?

Last time on **The Exchange**

 _After Sasori had requested - demanded - that the Third Kazekage sent him as the puppeteer that Konoha had requested for the Puppet Limb Project, he had ran all the way from Suna to Konoha. He reunited with Sakura at the main gates and she personally brought him to the Hokage._

 **The Deal**

 **Chapter 1: Arrival**

The Suna ANBU crouched down in front of the Hokage's desk with one knee touching the ground. He held out two scrolls and Tsunade took them from his hands. One had Puppet Limb Project written on it and the other had a big heart doodle. Tsunade was truly amused by the Third Kazekage's antics. She looked at the ANBU who was still half kneeling and at Sakura who was staring at her expectedly. Tsunade gestured for the ANBU to stand up and proceeded to read the first scroll.

When she finished, she opened the second scroll. Each sentence made it harder and harder to not laugh out loud in front of the silent ANBU and her confused pupil. After she finished the second scroll as well, Tsunade rolled them both up and finally addressed the ANBU.

"You may take off your hood and face cover, Sasori-san."

Sasori did as he was told. The expression on his face was blank and he held himself back from looking at Sakura. He did have several days to calm down after coming to one of the biggest revelations of his life and his mad dash to Konoha was more tiring than he had expected. The Third had warned him about that, but he wanted to see Sakura badly.

Sakura, on the other hand, was staring at Sasori from the side. Even though she was happy to see him, she was still surprised that he was the dispatched shinobi. Of all the people that the Third Kazekage could send, she did not expect him to send Sasori. The red head was Suna's poison master, one of Suna's elite, and the Third's right hand man. It was true that he had an active role in the Puppet Limb Project and was a skilled puppeteer, but it was a dangerous move. Suna could not afford to lose Sasori. Even if Konoha and Suna were building an alliance, there was still the possibility of someone attacking him.

"The Kazekage had agreed to our request and sent his best puppeteer to assist in the surgery. He expects prompt reports on the project's progress. I give Sasori-san full clearance for activity in Konoha, given he be accompanied by one of my most trusted shinobis. Since you are already here, Sakura, and currently free besides working on your project and light shifts at the hospital, you will be in charge of him. I am sure you two are acquainted."

Sakura nodded, "Understood." She remembered how upset he was when she left, so he must be glad that she would be his escort. Besides, she understood him and was the best person to help him adapt to Konoha. He was also her first partner when she developed the project and there was no one else whom she rather worked with. Furthermore, if anyone dared to protest his presence in Konoha, they would have to answer to her fists.

"As for his side mission," Tsunade continued, breaking Sakura's train of thoughts, "I would like to speak with him alone."

The pinkette tilted her head in confusion, "Side mission?"

"Sakura," The seriousness in Tsunade's eyes made Sakura shut her mouth immediately.

Sakura looked at Sasori, "I will be waiting outside the door." After she received his confirmation through a nod, she stepped out, leaving her Shishou and the ANBU alone.

The Hokage cleared her throat before quoting from the second scroll, "During his stay in Konoha, Sasori must woo the heart of Sakura Haruno, or he will be striped of his elite ANBU status and become the laughing stock for Suna's Kazekage."

Sasori's eyes twitched, but he knew the Third Kazekage would have written something along those lines just to tick him off.

"I also noticed that this is S-ranked while your main mission is A-ranked," Tsunade was trying her hardest to hold in her laughter.

The red head nodded, "Sakura is not suppose to know about this mission. This is between the Third Kazekage, you the Hokage, and myself."

The blonde tapped her chin, "This is not a joke, you know? Despite what it sounds like, this mission has all the official information, seals, and signatures. Your Kage commissioned this mission."

"I came knowing that, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade eyed the man from head to toe. He was calm and collected, she would give him credit for that.

"Arrangements to acquire an apartment close to Sakura's home are underway, but as of now, I am sure my pupil would allow you to stay in the extra room at her place. I expect your full cooperation with the project and your best behavior while in Konoha. Even if certain Konoha-nins provoke you or challenge you to a fight, please refrain from causing permanent damage to the village and killing my shinobis."

Sasori nodded in compliance. He did not plan on harming anything that resided in Konoha. He knew Sakura loved the village dearly and she would be disappointed in him if he did anything to damage the village or hurt the people that she loved.

"Sakura is fully in charge of the Puppet Limb Project and I have given her permission to perform her procedure on a Konoha-nin. She will be discussing the details with you. She will be reporting to me on a weekly basis and you can report your side mission's progress after she completes her report. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

"Before I dismiss you, I must reiterate my point on not fatally injuring any Konoha shinobis who attempt to fight you," Tsunade added, "Sakura should be able to handle them, but if anyone challenges you when you are alone. Please be the bigger person."

The red head quirked an eyebrow. Sasori could not understand why the Hokage seemed so certain that Konoha ninjas would pick a fight with him. It was true that he was from Suna and that he had probably killed many Konoha shinobis during the war, but many Konoha shinobis also killed Suna-nins. Heck, his parents died in the hands of a Konoha jounin. But the war was in the past and if the alliance was to survive, the new generations had to forgive and forget the blood sheds of the past. Besides, younger ninjas who would be immature and foolish enough to challenge him probably did not know his title as Akasuna no Sasori. He could easily incapacitate them with chakra strings before they hurt themselves.

"You seem certain that someone would challenge me. Are there particular individuals that I should be cautious of?" Sasori asked politely.

Tsunade nodded in affirmation, "Many people are protective of Sakura. Her teammates especially."

"Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

"You did your homework." Tsunade was genuinely surprised.

"Sakura likes to talk about the people she cares about," Sasori said softly as he wondered if she talked about him to her Konoha friends as well.

"I see. You are dismissed," the blonde added with a smirk, "Good luck."

Sasori bowed and swiftly exited the office. He found Sakura conversing with two Konoha ANBUs in the hallway. They were both wearing cloaks and their masks were positioned on their faces, but Sasori had no doubt that they were smiling at the pinkette. The moment he looked in their direction, one of the ANBUs turned his head and honey brown eyes met two painted eyes of a cat. The other ANBU, wearing a cat mask with slightly different pattern, followed immediately, but Sasori's eyes did not leave the first ANBU.

Noticing the ANBUs' reactions, Sakura turned as well and she smiled at Sasori. She looked back at the cloaked figures, "Have a safe mission. My favorite captain and his best sidekick. Tell the rest of your team I said hi."

"I am the vice captain, not a sidekick!" the second Cat whined. Sasori noted that his voice was that of a grown man, but he sounded childish.

"We will, as always. See you when we return, Sakura," the first Cat replied. He nodded at Sasori and entered the Hokage office, with the other following close behind. This one had a gentle voice that radiated composure and confidence.

Something about the two ANBUs was triggering Sasori's senses as a seasoned warrior, but he pushed his unease away. His body was probably reacting since he was in the presence of obviously powerful shinobis. He turned to Sakura, who was looking at him with curiosity beaming in her eyes.

"What is your side mission? Can I know about it?" her voice was so sweet that Sasori wanted to spill everything and confess how his recently discovered love for her was the reason why the Kazekage had commissioned the side mission, but he controlled himself.

He brushed one of her loose strands of hair away from her face, "Sorry, top secret."

Sakura's homely apartment was everything Sasori expected it to be. It was clean and tidy. She was minimalistic when it came to furnitures: a comfy couch, coffee table, bookshelves against the wall, etc. Trinkets and photos, most likely momentos from her life, decorated the place. Several photos caught Sasori's attention: there was an older photo that must be her genin team photo, one with whom he assumed were her parents, and another where Sakura was dressed rather scandalously and posing with a light teal eyed blonde.

The pinkette was in the midst of explaining the location of things in the kitchen and the bathroom when she noticed Sasori was looking at the photos on her bookshelf.

"Were you listening to me?" she huffed as she walked to his side.

"I was," Sasori replied, "I can multitask."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Those are my teammates, Naruto and Sasuke. That's our sensei, Hiro-sensei, but we lost him due to a mission gone wrong." Sasori waited as she took a deep breath before continuing her explanations. "They are my parents, but they moved to the Land of Tea when I became a jounin. They decided to be tea farmers. That's Ino, my best friend. She likes to make me wear dresses like that when we go out."

Sasori nodded as he put all the information into permanent storage in his mind. One of his goals was to learn as much about Sakura as he possibly could and he was off to a great start.

After Sakura made Sasori repeat everything she said about the kitchen and bathroom, in order to show that he indeed listened to her, she took him to the spare bedroom. It was simple like the rest of the apartment; there was a full size bed, a dresser, and a small table against the window. Sakura opened the dresser and pulled out some folded clothes. He vaguely saw some dark blues and bright orange.

"The guys sometimes sleep over and they tend to leave stuff everywhere. I thought that it might be you who was coming to Konoha and that you would probably be stuck with me until Tsunade finds you a place to live, so I had already changed out the sheets and covers. I also dusted the desk and cleared out the dresser. Treat it like your own room. I will let you unpack. Meet me in the living room when you are done and we can go over the project together."

"Thanks."

"No problem! I am so excited!" Sakura grinned cheerfully and went out of the room.

Sasori set down his pack on the table and draped his cloak on the foot of the bed. He did not particularly fancy the idea of other men "sleeping over" at Sakura's place, but she was bound to sleep near them anyways since they were teammates. He was going to be mature about this. He decided that wearing his ANBU regalia was going to gather more unnecessary attention than he would like, so he quickly changed into a simple black shirt and brown pants, similar to his jounin clothing. He forwent his flak jacket, but he kept his forehead protector secured on his head.

He was not sure if he liked the expression on Sakura's face when he joined her on the couch. She had only seen him in his ANBU uniform or the long floppy robes that Suna-nins wore, so he must look fairly different to her at that moment. But then she smiled and his worry left as soon as it came. She passed him a warm cup of tea and unrolled a scroll. From the corner of his eye, Sasori could tell it was information regarding the Konoha patient that Sakura wanted to perform the procedure on.

"He lost one leg on a mission several years ago. Instead of doing missions, he is a sensei at the academy. I know that our previous patient lost his leg much more recently in comparison to this chunin, but I'd like to give this a go. The procedure should be the same, except that I would have to re-open some of the scarred tissues where the reattachment would be."

"That should be fine. If your goal is to help shinobis regain abilities, this is a good trial. We already know puppet limb attachment works for recently disabled shinobis. So this would be a good chance to see if and how the attachment could help shinobis who have been disabled for a period of time already."

"Yes, my point exactly. I have already spoken with the chunin in question. We can go see him tomorrow and you can take his measurements."

Sasori nodded in confirmation.

"Now then… You had a long journey from Suna, and running no less!" Sakura suddenly scolded him, "You should rest now. I will make some food and wake you up later."

But before she could stand up from the couch, Sasori pulled her closer and somehow maneuvered them until he was lying on his side with his head on her lap. He let out a contented sigh and Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"Fine!" she relented and weaved her hand into his messy red locks. She gently rubbed his scalp while sending soothing chakra through her fingertips. A small smile graced Sasori's lips as he fell into a deep sleep, unweary of his surroundings, despite being in foreign territory.

Sakura did not notice when she dozed off, too, but the bright ray of light that woke her up told her that the sun was high in the sky. It was most likely a little past noon, which meant they napped for a few hours. The pinkette stretched her arms over her head and smiled a little when Sasori, whose head was still firmly on her lap, mumbled and stirred.

"Get up, sleepy head! I don't know about you, but I am hungry!" Sakura patted Sasori's arm and he grumbled. But he reluctantly sat up when she shifted and his head was at risk of falling towards the ground. His hair was messy, from his stirring and Sakura's patting, and it made her giggle. She smoothed his hair down, much like how she did for her other boys when they woke up with a nest for hair.

"I have some onigiri that I will heat up. There are extra towels and toothbrushes in the cabinet in the bathroom, feel free to claim yours."

Sasori nodded groggily as Sakura walked into the kitchen. Since her kitchen was designed to have an open space that faces the living room, he could see everything that she was doing. He wanted to watch her in her domestic grace for a while longer, but his eyes were gritty and his mouth felt dry. With slow steps, he found his way to the bathroom.

Inside the cabinet that Sakura mentioned were color coordinated towels and toothbrushes. It was obvious which ones were used and Sasori was completely certain whom the orange and dark blue toothbrushes belonged to. He grabbed the red towel and red toothbrush and used them to freshen up. When he was done, he hesitated whether he should put them inside the cabinet with the other used ones. He glanced at the cabinet, then back at the counter where Sakura had her pink one inside a cup and her pink towel hanging by the shower. Swiftly, he dropped his toothbrush next to hers, admiring how the two colors complimented each other, and hung his towel next to hers.

When he returned to the living room, Sakura had already put a plate of steaming onigiris and two cups of tea on the coffee table. One rice ball was already in her mouth as she waved him over. He quickly joined her before she decided to eat everything.

"It's good, isn't it?" Sakura asked as she grabbed her second one.

Sasori was eyeing the last two rice balls as he ate his first one. There were five in total and he would have to do something drastic if she did not give him the last two. "Did you make them?"

"Mikoto-san made them. I was sparring with Sasuke yesterday and she told me to take some home. She is his mother."

"She is the Uchiha Matriarch," Sasori noticed Sakura did not reach for the last two and inwardly sighed in relief.

"I see you know your stuff."

"I am the Kazekage's right hand man. I know all the major clans and their leaders."

"Touché."

"But I will admit that I did not know your teammate was of the main house," Sasori confessed.

"Oh? Sasuke is of the main house, but he is the second son. Itachi is the heir."

"Itachi? Uchiha Itachi?"

A long forgotten memory from the Great Shinobi World War resurfaced in the Suna-nin's mind. It was during the later part of the war, about a year or two before truce was called. Sasori was 13 and a fresh jounin. He recalled how Suna took pride in his ability on the battlefield, but he knew that he was not the only prodigy that the war created. He knew that Konoha, their enemy at that time, was well known for the amount of prodigies it produced. One of which was a boy, the same age as him, who hailed from one of Konoha's noble clans. While he turned sand red with his foes' blood, this boy traumatized grown warriors with his eyes that turned the color of blood.

Sakura sipped her tea, unknowing of the blood sheds that just crossed Sasori's mind. "Yes. You probably know of him. He fought in the war, just like you did."

"I never faced him in battle." " _Would I win? Or would I lose?"_

Sakura looked at Sasori with a sincere gleam in her eyes. She patted his head gently, "You know. Despite the horrors of war, I am glad that you and him have both turned out okay. War can cause irreversible trauma."

"That's why you established a mental health department for children," Sasori stated, surprising Sakura.

"You know about that?"

He gave her a pointed look.

"Fine, fine! You know everything. If you'd like, when we have free time, I can take you there. Ino is mainly in charge of that department since I am more needed in the hospital doing physical healing work."

"I'd like that," Sasori smiled warmly as he drank his own cup of tea.


	2. Chapter 2: Wataru-Sensei

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 2: Wataru-Sensei**

Early in the morning, before the academy students filed onto school grounds, Sakura took Sasori to meet the chunin sensei that she wanted to perform the surgery on. He was a chunin on the active roster when an unfortunate accident occurred; his leg was severely injured and the medic on shift decided that amputation was the only option. Since then, he relied on crutches and a wheelchair for mobility. Despite being removed from the mission roster, the chunin did not give up on his ninja life - he became a sensei at the academy and taught ninjutsu theories to the younger students.

"Wataru-sensei!" Sakura called out to a brown haired man sitting on a wheelchair. They were in the senseis' office, where most senseis prepared their class material for the day.

"Sakura-san!" the man greeted with a cheerful smile. He looked at the man bearing the Suna forehead protector and bowed slightly, "Hello. I am Wataru Fukuyama and you are?"

"Sasori," the red head replied.

"Sasori-san," Wataru smiled warmly. At this, Sasori wondered if it was a thing for Konoha-nin to be so friendly. If it was a Konoha-nin in Suna, they would not be getting such hospitable welcomes. Even Sakura was given weird stares when she first arrived for the exchange, but then again, Sasori was standing with the pinkette. He had figured out by now that everyone loved the "flower" of Konoha and that affection probably partially extended to him.

"Wataru-sensei, remember the Puppet Limb Project that I told you about a few days ago? Sasori is here to take your measurements."

The chunin nodded and rolled himself away from the table, "Should I stand up?"

"Yes," Sasori answered and the pinkette helped support Wataru to stand up on his one good leg.

The measurement did not take long and within a few minutes, Sakura gently lowered Wataru back onto his wheelchair. He gave a soft thank you to her and Sasori was now absolutely certain that Konoha-nins were kind to him because of Sakura.

"I should be done with the limb by tonight."

"That's my Sasori!" Sakura grinned, unaware of the effect that her choice of words had on the Suna-nin. Then she turned back to Wataru, "Would you be free tomorrow at noon for the surgery? Or would it conflict with class?"

The chunin shook his head, "I should be free. I have already spoken with the principal and he has a substitute sensei ready. I trust that the surgery will go well, but I am certain that I will need time to recover. After all, it's been a few years since I have walked on my own feet."

"Yes, it would take some time to recover since the surgery would involve re-opening the area for attachment. It might also take some time for you to get accustomed to using the limb and I appreciate your full cooperation for data collection," Sakura winked, "If your students give trouble to the substitute sensei, just let me know and I will handle it."

Wataru gave a nervous laugh, making Sasori curious about what Sakura meant by "handle" it.

After the pair left the academy, Sakura walked Sasori back to her apartment. She had to go to the hospital since there were a few surgeries lined up, waiting for her operation. She felt guilty about leaving Sasori alone, but he reassured her by letting her know that he would appreciate the time to work on the limb. Sakura gave him a quick hug and left.

The red head unrolled one of his storage scrolls and retrieved the special wood that he had already prepped. He looked at the notes that he took earlier and back at his supply and tools. This limb should not take him long to make, especially since he had no pinkette around to distract him. With a serious gleam in his eyes, he settled down to work.

At the hospital, Sakura performed the surgeries quickly and efficiently. Normally, she would take her time and explain the process to the observing medics. However, she was impatient to finish up and go back to Sasori. She was not worried about him destroying her home or making a mess of things, because she was confident that he was much more mature and neat than her boys, but there was a strange need to check up on him as soon as possible. Sakura blamed it on how sad he appeared when she left Suna and that made her feel guilty whenever she had to say goodbye to him.

When she returned home, she was glad that he had taken her words to heart and made himself comfortable. There was a cup of hot tea on her coffee table and he was snuggled up on the sofa with a book in his hands. Sakura noted that it was one of the newer medical journal that she had acquired prior to leaving Konoha for the exchange. She barely read a few chapters before she had to drop it and pack for Suna.

"I am home."

"Welcome back," Sasori greeted with a soft smile as he placed the book down. He had made some sort of bookmark with a scrap of paper that he had found in the house.

"How are you liking the book? I wasn't able to finish it before I went to Suna," Sakura asked as she removed her shoes and walked closer to him.

"It is interesting. I also read this herbalist's work, but I did not know about this particular journal."

"Wow, I have something that even Sasori didn't know about!"

He rolled his eyes and with a flick of his fingers, he pulled Sakura forward with his chakra strings. She almost tripped, but she caught herself with her hands against the edge of the couch. The pinkette narrowed her eyes, "That's dangerous!"

"We both know you wouldn't get hurt that easily," Sasori stated calmly as Sakura sat down. He was slightly surprised that he was able to move her with such ease. Chiyo had told him that moving a living person could be quite difficult and he had never tried it, despite how curious he was. He just never found the need to do so, but he vaguely remembered Chiyo explaining that it was much easier to control a willing person. For example, a puppeteer could control a comrade who trusted them completely and by doing so, enhance that comrade's mobility.

As he pondered why it was so easy and natural to move Sakura, the Konoha kunoichi grabbed the book to see his progress. She noted that he stopped a few pages ahead of the dog-ear tagged page that she marked, "This journal was delivered to me. I was visiting my parents in the Land of Tea when I met the herbalist who wrote some of my favorite journals. We became good friends and he told me he would sent me a copy of his new work the moment it is published."

"I see." _Popular everywhere she goes._

"Anyways," Sakura set the book back down and grinned at him, "How was your progress, I assume you are done with the limb already?"

Sasori nodded and he unrolled one of his storage scrolls. He released the seal and out popped the freshly made leg that he toiled over for the past few hours.

"I am surprised you were done so fast, Chiyo-sama told me it's not easy to make a puppet part that quickly. She mentioned something about finding the right wood, prepping it, and things like that," Sakura said in amazement.

"I am of a different tier when it comes to puppet making abilities."

"Lies, Maki-chan sent me a message that came in when I left the hospital. She asked me how I was doing and told me about that day when you and her met at the market. Speaking of which, I have to reply to her..."

Sasori froze. If that chunin dared to spill his secrets, he would have to take action. If anything inappropriate was told to Sakura, then everything be damned. That girl's blood would spill and no one would question where her body went.

Sakura continued speaking, "Is there anything you would like to say to her? She also thanked you again for the kunais. Her friends were quite jealous. That was very sweet of you, Sasori."

He looked at her, waiting for her to reveal more of the message's content. When Sakura made no indication that she knew of his revelation that day, he inwardly sighed in relief. Despite how annoying Maki was, Sasori was glad that he did not have to end her. Sakura would be sad and he did not want that.

"Tell her to take care of the kunais," Sasori said softly and Sakura nodded.

But before she got up from the couch to grab pen and paper, Sasori pulled on her arm. "Could you wait to write the letter after I explain this limb to you first?"

The pinkette nodded, "Of course."

Sasori picked up the limb and put it in Sakura's hands, surprising her with how much heavier it was than the hollow limb that he made for the Suna jounin. He explained the joint area and how Sakura should best attach it to give the chunin the most efficient control over it. He also pointed out that the leg was solid and weigh only slightly less than an actual human leg. Since the chunin had been disabled for quite awhile, Sasori believed that it was safer to make a simple leg than giving it fancy contraptions or hidden compartments. Sakura agreed that it was a smart move and she highly doubted that Wataru would be going back onto the fields anytime soon.

After Sasori finished his explanations, he added, "I would like to be in the surgery room with you, like how my grandmother did. I can assist you like she did."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

The next day, Sakura performed the surgery with Sasori's assistance at the scheduled time that she told Wataru. The chunin was knocked out cold with anesthetics and Sakura used her chakra scalpel to reopen the scarred stub that marked where Wataru's knee used to be. She used her chakra to control the blood flow as flesh spliced apart and some of the medics observing the process had to avert their eyes. Sasori noted who they were from the corner of his eyes. When the attachment was ready, Sakura began weaving healing chakra to promote connection between the puppet limb and the chunin's chakra pathway. It was taking longer than the previous surgery, despite how much more at ease Sakura was with the procedure. She made a mental note that it was most likely due to the inactive state that the chakra pathways were in, since they were not used much prior to the surgery.

It took Sakura an extra hour to complete the surgery, but she was relieved that Wataru's stats were all stable and two nurses helped the pinkette and the red head wheel the patient into one of the hospital rooms. Sakura ordered that he be closely monitored and at the first sign of problems, the nurses had to report to her immediately.

Once Wataru regained consciousness, Sakura walked up to his side, "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy," he smiled sheepishly.

She laughed, "I know this might be a bit soon, but do you feel the prosthetic limb?" She wanted to ensure that the connection was successful.

Wataru tried to focus. He could feel some tingling where there used to be no feeling, but that was it. It was not the same intense sensation that the jounin reported. Sakura sighed, but Wataru gave her shoulder a soft pat. "Don't fret, Sakura-san. I can feel something that I was not able to feel before. This will take time, you said so yourself."

Sakura nodded at his reassurance.

One of the nurses patted Sakura's other shoulder, "Sakura-sensei, you should go home and rest. That was a long and complicated procedure. You need rest now. Don't make me call in the forces."

The pinkette grumbled, "Fine." With that, she gave a nod to Sasori, who quietly followed her as she left the room and the hospital with slow steps.

"What are the forces?" he asked with curiosity gleaming in his eyes as they walked. The sun was beginning to set in the distance.

A small blush dusted Sakura's cheeks and Sasori liked that look on her. "Well. I am sort of known for not knowing my limits. So the 'force' varies from anyone on my team to shinobis in the hospital at the time. They usually wrap me up in one of the hospital blankets and carry me home like a potato sack."

Sasori imagined Sakura draped over someone's back like a rag and a small chuckle left his lips. The blush on Sakura's face grew bigger. She shoved him and made a mad dash for her home. The red head quickly chased after her, fearing that she would lock him out for the night. However, before Sakura got too far from him, she stopped in her tracks. There was a man about the same height as Sasori, with dark sleek hair that stuck up like a bird, standing in front of her.

"Sasuke!" Sakura greeted cheerfully, but the Konoha-non was not looking at her. Instead, his ebony eyes met Sasori's honey ones. Sasori was sure that his eyes lingered on his forehead protector.

The Uchiha slowly focused his eyes onto her. "Sakura. I was wondering where you were the last two days. Mother asked if you would like to come over for dinner."

"I've been busy with my Puppet Limb Project. I am also in charge of taking care of our guest from Suna, so please let Mikoto-san know that I appreciate the offer, but I won't be able to make it to dinner." She turned and gestured to Sasori, who had walked towards them. "This is Sasori, he is the Puppeteer sent by the Kazekage to come help me with my project."

Sasori held out his hand and Sasuke shook it.

"Uchiha-san."

"Sasori-san."

Sasuke looked back at Sakura, "Well, even if you can't come to dinner at the compound. Don't forget about the dinner that Naruto whined about for when he comes back from his mission."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot. He is due back the day after tomorrow right?"

The Uchiha nodded, "I will see you then. Don't overwork yourself." He tilted his head toward Sasori, "Nice meeting you."

Sasori dipped his head in return and Sakura waved as Sasuke disappeared into the crowd.

"Would you like to join us for ramen?" she asked as they resumed walking side by side.

"Ramen?"

"Yes, that's Naruto's favorite. Ramen is basically another word for dinner to him."

"Sure, I would like to see Uzumaki-san again. I was not able to speak with him during the chunin exam. I would also like to congratulate his new chunin, he is just as talented as his father."

There was a short silence between them, "So you know who Kakashi is."

Sasori rolled his eyes, "Sakura, they announce the names of winners at the exam and he looks exactly like his father, despite having a mask."

"Hey! There could be many silver haired ninjas in Konoha for all you know!"

Sasori waited patiently for Sakura to realize how childish she sounded. The kunoichi huffed and glanced away from him. "You are doing the dishes tonight."


	3. Chapter 3: Brat

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 3: Brat**

It was two days after the surgery and Wataru was finally able to lift his new leg up as he rested on the hospital bed. Sakura wrote down everything he was describing to her in a special journal that she dedicated to his case. She was quite disappointed that he was taking much longer than the jounin sensei to recover, but Wataru himself was ecstatic at every bit of progress. The first time he twitched one of the wooden toes, he had cheered and scared the nurse on duty.

Sakura was glad that he was happy and the steady pace of recovery was comforting, even if it was slow. The medic had expected his chakra pathways to take more time to become active and adapt to the limb and small improvement was always better than no improvement at all. She instructed Wataru to practice channeling his chakra towards the connection and that should speed up the process. He should be able to move the entire leg with ease within one week, stand up in two, then probably run within one month.

"I am eternally grateful to you, Sakura-san," Wataru said softly as Sakura examined the connection spot with her healing chakra.

"And you as well, Sasori-san," he added as he looked at the Suna-nin who was standing close by and observing Sakura's work.

The red head was slightly surprised, but he did not show it. He simply bowed his head and waited for Sakura to finish her check-up.

In the past two days, Sasori accompanied Sakura when she checked on Wataru. Then he would read in her office while she completed her shift in the hospital. Afterwards, she brought him around Konoha and showed him the sights. He was amazed by how warm Konoha was at night. The night before, she had taken him up to the Hokage mountain and they watched the sun set and then admired the city lights coming to life. There were less stars that Suna's night sky, but he still found the view beautiful and the warm breeze was definitely a positive addition.

Sakura stretched her arms over her head as the pair left the hospital. The sun was setting and the pinkette was leading them in a different direction from home. Sasori recalled that they were meeting her teammates for dinner - ramen- so he was not surprised when they entered the busier parts of Konoha. She brought them towards a well-lit store that had a banner with "Ichiraku" on it.

"I am glad that they expanded the store, everyone always argued who get to sit first when the store was smaller," she pushed the doors open and Sasori followed her in.

When they entered, Sakura immediately spotted Sasuke at the counter seats. She settled down on his right as usual and beckoned Sasori to sit on her other side. She smiled cheerfully, "How are you, Sasuke? You are early as always."

"Good. Have a mission tomorrow, but should be back in a day or two. How is Wataru-san?"

"He is doing fine. I think he should be able to stand in about two weeks. It's slow progress, but it's still progress."

Sasori spoke up, "Being able to walk again is a great feat in itself, Sakura. Don't be disappointed at the pace of progress."

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, listen to him. You are too hard on yourself."

The pinkette pouted, "Don't gang up on me!"

"Sakura-chan!" "Sakura-sensei!"

The three shinobis at the counter turned at the voices that just echoed from the doorway. Bustling in the door were Naruto, Rin, and Kakashi. All three looked a bit worse for wear and they still had their travel pack and gear on them. Naruto passed the door first, but Kakashi scurried underneath his arm as usual. He was aiming for the spot beside Sakura, but he stopped immediately when he noticed that it was already occupied. Naruto knocked into him, but thankfully, Rin was right behind him and grabbed his jacket before he could tip forward and crash into the small chunin.

Kakashi's black eyes stared directly at Sasori, who was observing him with much less intensity. The red head was more focused on the blonde who started yelling at his student for acting so recklessly, even though he also ran into the store himself. Sasuke sighed at the last teammate's antics and thanked the heavens that people who frequented Ichiraku were all used to Naruto's screaming and did not even bat an eye at their direction. Sakura, on the other hand, was not paying much attention to Naruto; she was concerned about the missing member of Team Naruto.

"Rin-chan, where is Obito-kun?" Sakura asked the brunette who sighed at how embarrassing her sensei was being.

Rin looked slightly upset, "He got hurt on the mission, so we dropped him off at the hospital became we came here."

Sakura immediately stood up, "Was he injured badly?!"

Naruto shook his head, "Calm down, Sakura-chan. Obito is okay. He broke his arm doing something reckless. Rin fixed him up pretty good on our way back, but we still dropped him off to get a cast. He won't be joining us today, the medic told him to go home and rest as soon as the cast sets."

The only genin in the group spoke softly, "I am still not very good at mending bones yet."

Sakura patted her head, "I am sorry for being gone for so long. We can work on it once I have free time again. I will lend you some books to study, too."

Sasori noticed the girl smiled brightly at the pinkette as she nodded happily. He also noticed the silver haired kid had not looked away from his face for one second.

"By the way, who are you?" Naruto asked bluntly as he finally noticed the Suna-nin watching them.

The medic opened her mouth, but Sasori beat her to it. "Hello, I am Sasori. Nice to meet you officially, Uzumaki-san, Nohara-san, Hatake-san. I am a Suna shinobi who was sent here to assist Sakura with her Puppet Limb Project."

Kakashi's eyes twitched at how casually the foreign nin spoke his favorite sensei's name. Rin's eyes glimmered; the red haired man was a flower boy - he must be the one who Sakura thought of when she was teased by Tenten at the party. Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"Officially meet us? How do you know all of our names?"

"I was working as an ANBU during the chunin exams," Sasori explained.

"Ah, I see," Naruto put on his signature grin, "Nice to meet y'all!" he thrusted out his hand and Sasori grasped it firmly. After they shook hands, Naruto sat beside Sasuke. Normally he would fight for the chair next to Sakura, but the Suna-nin was a guest and the blonde knew that he must be most comfortable sitting with Sakura.

Rin quietly got on the chair next to her sensei. She turned to look at her teammate who was still standing at the same spot where he tripped their sensei. Kakashi was still staring at Sasori.

Sakura waved her hands in front of Kakashi's face and he finally blinked. "You okay Kakashi-kun?"

The boy stared at her confused expression and then shook his head. He quietly got into the seat beside Rin, who looked at him with concern.

Dinner went on without further trouble. Naruto told the rest of his team about the mission that Team Naruto just went on. Sasuke talked about his upcoming mission. Sakura updated them on her progress at the hospital, with Sasori chiming in now and then. Rin had lots of question about Sakura's project and she cheered when the pinkette said she could help with data collection. Kakashi remained quiet the whole time, but the Konoha-nins paid it no mind since he was usually silent anyways. However, Sasori knew the boy held some sort of hostility towards him. The moment their eyes met, the spark of rivalry had zapped them both.

Later that night, Kakashi asked his father if they could talk. Sakumo almost had a heart attack when his son asked to talk, since he usually kept to himself. Prior to going home, Kakashi had went to the library to search for information on the Suna-nin, but all he learned was that Sasori was a known enemy from Suna during the later part of the last Great Shinobi War World. There was nothing else that he could find, so he figured that he could ask his father, since he fought in the war as well.

"Do you know Akasuna no Sasori?" the chunin asked directly, surprising Sakumo.

"He is a talented puppeteer from Suna and he fought in the war," Sakumo recalled. His platoon was stationed close to Suna, so many of his battles during the war was fought against Suna shinobis. He never faced Sasori himself, but he had heard about the young boy with the red hair and how he was to be dealt with caution if encountered on the field. Sakumo's heart ached as he remembered how some of his comrades never returned after encountering Sasori.

"Is that all you know about him?" Kakashi pressed on.

Sakumo was curious why his son seemed so interested in the Suna-nin, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with Haruno Sakura. It was highly probable that Sakura met Sasori during her exchange in Suna, but he could not understand why the man should be significant to his son.

"Yes, that's all I know," Sakumo confirmed, "Son, why don't you ask Sakura-sensei? She probably met him in Suna."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, so his father did not know that Sasori was in Konoha. There was no way he could ask Sakura without being obvious. But then again, he could just play it off as being curious about Suna shinobis. Besides, if Sasori was known for being a powerful warrior, there was little problem with him asking about Sasori. With his plan well formulated, Kakashi thanked his father for his help and scurried back to his room. He would take action at the hospital tomorrow.

Sakura had just finished checking in on Wataru and was discussing his progress with Sasori in her office, when a small knock was heard on her door. The medic told the person to come in and she was surprised to see Kakashi walk in. The chunin was just as surprised when he saw the red head, that he needed information on, sitting calmly in Sakura's office as if he belonged there.

"What's wrong, Kakashi-kun?" Sakura asked as she sat down the scroll that she was holding in her hands.

The chunin stared at the Suna-nin, who seemed to be challenging him with his lazy honey eyes. Kakashi bristled, he did not like how the man seemed to know exactly why he was there. To heck with it.

"I came to ask about Sasori-san," he said calmly.

"What about me?" Sasori asked and Kakashi's glare intensified.

"You know why I am here."

Sakura looked between both of them as the room got quiet. She was 99% certain why Kakashi was curious about Sasori, but she did not understand why the red head seemed to be taunting the young boy. It did not make sense to her, but Sasori seemed to be enjoying whatever he was doing.

"Kakashi-kun, we need to work on the Puppet Limb Project. If you don't have something urgent, could it wait until later?" Sakura asked gently. She hated it when people talked without actually talking and dammit, she was a busy woman.

The chunin looked back at her and Sakura felt slightly guilty at the flash of sadness that passed his eyes. "I am sorry, Sakura-sensei."

Kakashi stepped out of the office, but his gut instinct was telling him to stay. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on Sakura, but the knowing look that the Suna-nin gave him made him uneasy. It made him feel like the red head knew something about him that he did not know about. Thus, he pretended to be waiting in the hallway as he focused his senses to listen in on the room.

"Why are you taunting him? That's unlike you," Sakura said.

"No reason in particular," Sasori replied.

"Is it because he is Sakumo's son?" Kakashi's ears perked up as Sakura continued, "Does seeing him make you upset? I understand that his father killed your parents during the war, but..."

Kakashi's eyes widen and he ran down the hallway and out of the hospital.

"Trust me, Sakura. I already put that behind me when my grandmother put that behind her. I am certain that I killed just as many of Hatake-san's important people. I probably killed much more than he did."

"Then why are you messing with him?"

"It's fun?" Sasori joked and Sakura punched him lightly. "You can't blame me. His little crush is quite obvious and I can feel his hostility towards me the moment he saw me. Count it as self-defense."

Sakura tapped her chin, "That's a problem. He is like that to every man I interact with. I hope he outgrows this phase of his life soon."

Sasori looked at her from the corner of his eyes. " _I doubt he will ever outgrow it if the crush is on you._ "

The Suna ANBU stared at the silver haired chunin that had appeared out of nowhere and was now standing between him and Sakura. The pair was on their way back to the apartment when Kakashi poofed in between them.

"I challenge you, Suna shinobi," Kakashi said as he held out a kunai in an aggressive posture.

Sakura smacked her forehead, "Kakashi-kun, stop this right now or I'll -"

"Do you think you have a chance?" Sasori asked as his posture remained relaxed, the exact opposite of Kakashi's.

"If my father could defeat both your parents in battle, then so can I!" the masked boy retorted. At that comment, Sasori felt his back tense up. He knew the boy was jealous of him, but being disrespectful to the dead, especially his own parents, was lower than low. But before he could use his chakra strings to tie the boy up, Sakura had lifted Kakashi up by the back of his shirt. She looked like an angry mother cat scruffing her bratty kitten. The shock in the chunin's eyes was obvious.

"You crossed a line, Kakashi," the pinkette bit out as she turned him around, while still scruffing him. "Apologize to Sasori right now."

Kakashi's eyes widen. He had never seen his Sakura-sensei like this before. Usually when she got angry at Naruto or Obito, she would blow up and fling them far far away. However, this time, the fire in her eyes were threatening to consume him. She was not going to break his bone and fix him up afterwards; she was going to break his legs and make him crawl to the hospital in shame.

Without warning, Sakura dropped him back onto the ground and he landed on his feet with a small shake. Kakashi turned around and looked at Sasori, who seemed more disappointed in him than angry. Even though he did not like the man, he knew what he said was wrong and unacceptable. He looked at his feet and mumbled a quiet apology. Then he turned away from the pair and ran into the darkness.

Sakura watched him go. "I am sorry, Sasori. That was not okay."

He looked at her and he could tell that she was deeply disappointed in her teammate's student. He suddenly felt guilty, it was because of him that she lectured one of her favorite Konoha shinobis. But the disappointment soon left her eyes as she shrugged, "Guess that's one way to get him to get over his crush."

Sakura realized that she had spoken too soon when Kakashi barged into her office again two days later.

Kakashi pointed a finger at Sasori, "I declare you my rival. I will not lose to you."

Sakura rubbed her face after Kakashi was done making his declaration of war and ran out of her office. "What does he mean by rival?"

Sasori was absolutely certain Kakashi meant rivals in love, but he kept quiet about that. He pretended to be as confused as Sakura was, "I don't know. He is young, how would I know what goes on in his mind?"

"That's true. You are quite old after all."

The Suna-nin wanted to deny that claim, but Sakura was right. He was older than her and for a ninja, he was fairly "old".

"Brat."

"Hey! Only Chiyo-Baa can call me that!"


	4. Chapter 4: Red

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 4: Red**

Naruto watched as his star pupil threw another set of kunais with deadly accuracy towards the poor trees on training ground 2. They had team training earlier that morning since Obito was itching to do something, even with one of his arms inside a cast. A few hours had passed and Obito and Rin were both taking a well-deserved break, but Kakashi insisted on doing some more drills. The blonde was slightly concerned.

"Did something happen to Kakashi?" Naruto asked his more talkative students as he sat down next to them, under the shade of a large tree.

Obito looked at his sensei, "I don't know, but I get what you mean though, Sensei. Kakashi looks like he is preparing for war or something."

Rin huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "You two are such dummies. Kakashi is working hard because he got himself a rival."

"Gai?" Both loud-mouths asked as they remembered the genin with the bowl-cut and green jumpsuit. He was the student of Rock Lee, who was quite infamous for his huge crush on Sakura and his endless blabbering about youth and spring.

"No, no, no," Rin wiggled a finger back and forth, "Rival in love."

"Rin-chan, we all know Lee-san has a thing for Sakura-sensei, but there is no way that Sakura-sensei would return his feelings," Obito said as Naruto nodded in agreement.

"You two are idiots! Kakashi is worried about Sa-so-ri-san." The brunette made sure to enunciate the name clearly and from the corner of her eyes, she saw Kakashi miss his target.

Naruto's eyes widen while Obito appeared confused. The young Uchiha knew that Sasori was the Suna-nin dispatched to assist Sakura with her new medical project, but he had never met the guy in person. He turned to face his sensei who was clutching his fists and had a fire blazing in his eyes. Obito rolled his eyes, shit was going down. He just hoped the Suna-nin was a highly skilled shinobi or else he was going to die. Heck, he still felt bad for the jounin that his Sensei and Sasuke-sensei had put in the hospital for a week when Sakura-sensei was away on a solo mission. The jounin mysteriously disappeared from her life and both Naruto and Sasuke pretended they did not know anything.

"I am going to find Sasuke right now!" Naruto shouted as he ran away from the training ground, leaving his students in the dust.

"He is so irresponsible as a sensei," Rin commented as they watched him go.

"As long as he doesn't allow me to die during missions, I am all good," replied Obito.

Uchiha Itachi did not even blink as a yellow, orange blur with a dash of black and green rushed passed him as he entered the main gates to the Uchiha compound. He just finished reporting to the Hokage and all he wanted was to go home and rest. Shishu and the rest of the team decided to go drink to celebrate a successful mission, but he had politely declined. Now he was not so certain if home would be more peaceful than the bars.

When he arrived at the main house, he noticed that Naruto had already made himself comfortable in the sitting room and Sasuke was pouring him a glass of water. The Uchiha Matriarch was nowhere to be seen and Itachi recalled that their mother had made plans to go visit her friends. She deemed her sons old enough to not starve for one night without her care, but the older son was not certain if that claim applied to the younger son. Itachi entered the room and Naruto waved at him to join them at the table.

"So what do you want? I don't appreciate you almost knocking down our front door," Sasuke said in an irritated tone.

"I have major news, Sasuke!" Naruto chugged down his water, "We have to eliminate that Suna-nin before he lays a finger on Sakura-chan!"

"What Suna-nin? You mean Sasori?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi's ears perked up. He recalled seeing Sakura with a Suna ANBU at the Hokage Tower prior to leaving for his mission, but he did not know who the ANBU was. His instincts had told him that the man was powerful and if Sasori was his name, then Itachi knew exactly who that ANBU was - he was Akasuna no Sasori.

The older Uchiha's eyes narrowed, "But what is one of Suna's elite doing in Konoha?"

"So remember how I told you that I found out Kakashi has a huge crush on Sakura-chan?" Naruto began.

Sasuke nodded, indicating for the blonde to continue.

"So today, Rin-chan told me that Kakashi is training like crazy because he found a rival in love. That rival is Sasori!"

Sasuke rubbed his temple, "We all know Kakashi hates every man that Sakura talks to."

Itachi held down his smile as he pictured the silver haired chunin who always lost his cool when the pinkette was around. He was rather fond of Kakashi, but it was a problem that the boy was so infatuated with Team 7's medic-nin.

"But this is serious! Remember how Tenten said Sakura-chan likes flower boys? That guy is a total flower boy. What if he tries to take Sakura-chan away from us? We have to go threaten him," Naruto exclaimed. He was pissed that Sasuke was still sitting calmly as if there was no bad man trying to take away their precious teammate.

"Naruto-kun, if I am not mistaken. Sasori is a Suna ANBU. Threatening him is not the wisest idea," Itachi interjected, surprising Sasuke who thought his older brother was not listening to their conversation at all.

Naruto pointed at Sasuke, "That's why I need him to go with me! Why don't you come with us, too, Itachi? Then there is no way we would lose!"

Sasuke sighed, "Don't bring us into this. Besides, Sasori-san has not done anything that warrant a 'threat' from us. He hasn't showed any indication of pursuing Sakura like Lee or that jounin that we beat up. He is just here for work."

An expression of utter betrayal formed on Naruto's face as his best friend brushed him off. The blonde had expected Sasuke to jump into action with him. They were going to sent the Suna-nin flying back to Suna because no one was allowed to pursue their pure, innocent, wonderful Sakura. He had not expected the Uchiha to remain calm and collected - he did not expect him to be a traitor to their pact of protecting Sakura from the clutches of evil men.

The older Uchiha mused at the scene before him. It was true that he did not receive the peace that he had desired earlier, but some amusement was also relaxing. However, he was curious why the Suna-nin was in Konoha and why Sasuke was defending him from Naruto's accusations. He focused his gaze on his brother, "Sasuke, why is this Suna ANBU in Konoha? From what I gathered from the conversation, he is working with Sakura?"

Sasuke nodded, "He is here to assist Sakura with the Puppet Limb Project that she told us about. Apparently, he was highly involved with the development of the project back in Suna and the Kazekage sent him here. He came on the day you left for your mission, I think."

"I see."

"Don't ignore me, you two!" Naruto whined, "We have to do something about this!"

"There is nothing to do! Unless he acts, we have no basis to threaten him, Naruto."

The blonde's eyes sparkled, "Maybe that is his plan. Use his flower boy appearance and his smarty pants intellect to steal Sakura-chan from under our noses. Sasuke, you are already falling for it!"

Sasuke was tired of Naruto's ramblings, but before he could kick his teammate out of the house, Itachi spoke up, "Actually, Naruto-kun. I have a souvenir from my mission to give to Sakura. If you can wait for me to change out of my uniform, I will go find her with you. I will observe this Suna-nin and give you my honest opinion regarding this matter."

"Don't encourage him, brother!"

"You da best, Itachi!"

A few minutes later, Sasuke found himself tagging along with Naruto and Itachi as they walked towards Sakura's place. The pinkette had relocated to an apartment closer to the hospital after her parents left Konoha, making it easier for the staff to reach her if there were any emergency surgeries. However, it also meant that she lived in one of the more crowded, civilian areas and it was a far walk from the Uchiha compound, which was at the outskirts of Konoha.

If the older Uchiha was not present, Naruto would have knocked Sakura's door down due to his lack of patience and tac. Itachi held onto the blonde's shoulder while Sasuke rang the doorbell. A melodic "coming" called out and the trio heard the door being unlocked.

Sakura poked her head out and blinked in surprise, "Oh! Hello, Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi. That's an odd combination… What can I help you guys with?"

"Are you busy right now, Sakura?" Itachi asked politely before Naruto could open his mouth. He was rather good at beating the boys when it came to speaking.

The medic shook her head, "No. I am just helping my ward with packing. Shishou got him an apartment down the street and he is moving there in the morning. Do you want to come in?"

Itachi nodded and all three of them entered the apartment. Sasuke looked at Sasori, who was on the ground by the coffee table, in greeting and then made his way into the kitchen. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized what the red head was "packing". Itachi fished out a small wrapped parcel from his pant pocket and held it out to Sakura, after she closed and locked the door. He knew the Suna-nin was observing him from the corner of his eyes - in the same way that he was analyzing him as well.

Sakura opened the parcel and smiled in glee, "It's umeboshi from that store I like!"

"My team passed by that town on our way back from our mission. It's a return gift for the dango sauce," he smiled down at her gently.

"Thank you!" Sakura beamed at him.

Sasori noted that this new Uchiha must be the Uchiha Itachi, if what Sakura called him was any indication. He noticed that he was taller than himself and despite how much he wanted to deny it, the man was handsome. Sasori knew he was not bad himself, but he was a "pretty" boy whereas Itachi had a much more masculine touch to his otherwise feminine face. This man was far more dangerous than he had first anticipated.

"You have not met Sasori yet, correct?" Sakura asked Itachi as he followed her towards the coffee table, "This is Sasori, he is the Suna puppeteer who helped me developed the Puppet Limb Project and he is here to assist me with the first trial run in Konoha. Sasori, this is Uchiha Itachi. He is Sasuke's older brother."

"Nice to meet you," Itachi said softly and Sasori immediately recognized him as the ANBU that he met at the Hokage Tower on his first day in Konoha. If he remembered correctly, this guy was Sakura's "favorite ANBU captain".

"Pleasure is mine," he replied while doing his best to control his breathing.

"So what brings you here?" Sakura asked as she addressed the two men who were not ransacking her kitchen.

Naruto's eyes never left Sasori's form. "I am here to protect you from this dangerous man, Sakura-chan."

Sasori quirked an eyebrow while Sakura sighed, "You were so civilized when you first met him. Why start this nonsense now?"

Sasuke poked his head out from the cabinet that he was rummaging, "He said something about Sasori-san using his appearance and intelligence to steal you from under our noses. It was all Kakashi's fault if you ask me."

The red head turned to the blonde, "You can't take Hatake-san seriously like that, Uzumaki-san. He randomly decided that I was his rival after he failed to challenge me to a fight."

Despite appearing to have no interest in this matter, Itachi was actually paying full attention to the situation. Suna and Konoha were building an alliance and trying to forgive and forget the blood shed that occurred during the war. Thus, Itachi knew Sasori was in Konoha under positive political conditions and Sakura's trust in him was more than favorable. He had no reasons to doubt the man's innocence. However, he also knew Kakashi well and even though that boy could be irrational when it came to Sakura, he would not initiate a fight unless provoked to a certain degree. Furthermore, Naruto's odd and slightly demeaning blabbering did make sense. Sakura was the type to be vulnerable to a pretty face and intelligence, she said so herself a long time ago.

"What is this man up to?" Itachi thought to himself.

"I know my student, something triggered his behavior and I know you have something to do with it!" Naruto pointed a finger at the red head who continued to look at him with pure innocence gleaming in his eyes.

"Stop doing that to Sasori!" Sakura glowered, "I already lectured him! He told me himself that he messed with Kakashi-kun because he thought it was fun and Kakashi-kun was more hostile towards him than usual."

"Oh." The fire in Naruto's eyes died down and he looked slightly dejected.

"Oh… indeed," Itachi thought with amusement.

Sasori nodded, "Yes, Sakura already lectured me."

"Well, if that's the case," Naruto scratched his head, "Sorry about that, Sasori-san."

"No worries."

"Sakura, you are out of tomatoes," Sasuke suddenly spoke up.

Sakura's eyes widen, "But there were two when I opened the fridge this morning!"

"I ate them while you guys were talking. You have any more food? I am still hungry."

"Me too, Sakura-chan, I am starving!" Naruto chimed in. Now that business was done with, his stomach finally caught up to his brain.

A vein popped on Sakura's forehead and she clenched her fists until they were white. She was about to throw her teammates out the window, but then she realized that Itachi and Sasori were both in the room. Her hands slowly relaxed and she sighed, "What do you want to eat?"

Naruto cheered as he joined Sasuke in the kitchen while the Uchiha started pulling out rice and various uncooked food from the fridge. Sakura turned to Sasori, "I will help you finish packing in a bit." Then she glanced at Itachi, "Please make yourself at home. I acquired a genjutsu book while I was in Suna if you'd like to read it."

Itachi nodded as he made his way towards the bookshelf with ease. Sasori noted that he seemed to know exactly where Sakura would put a new book. Heck, he knew which book she was talking about without needing to know the title. That could only mean he had seen all the other genjutsu books on the shelf and to the red head's distaste, there were more than a handful of genjutsu books on that shelf.

Sasori forced himself to smile politely as Itachi glanced at him before he sat down on the edge of the couch. He got up from this spot on the ground and put his storage scrolls out of the way, along the side of the wall. He was about to walk back to his room to tidy up some more, but Itachi's voice stopped him.

"You are Akasuna no Sasori, am I correct?" Itachi asked as his dark eyes made direct contact with honey brown ones. Sasori disliked how eerily beautiful those onyx eyes were; they were a dark, dark blue and the pupil was barely visible. It was like staring at a hollow void that, at the same time, was not empty at all.

"Yes, I am." Sasori sat down on the couch, on the opposite edge from Itachi.

"I was not sure whether you survived the war, but I am glad that you did," the Uchiha smiled gently, his words surprising the Suna-nin.

"Why would you be glad that I survived? I was an enemy-nin."

"War is an ugly thing and if I am not wrong, we are of the same age. I am sure that you understand better than anyone how I felt when I was on the battlefield, so I am glad that you survived and are alive and well," Itachi answered softly, "Truthfully, I felt sorry for every life I took. They were just shinobis bound to duty like I was."

Sasori eyed the man. He did not expect the Great Uchiha Itachi to be such a pacifist. This man was the heir to one of the warrior clans that founded Konoha, a shinobi village. He also fought in the war when he was a child. But then, now that Sasori was reminded of the past, he did notice how Itachi was known for traumatizing or incapacitating his opponents, rather than ending them on the spot.

The Suna-nin sighed, "In my opinion, it's easier to heal a broken body than a broken mind."

Itachi's eyes narrowed, but when he saw the genuine sadness in Sasori's eyes, he realized that the red head was not taunting him of his genjutsu abilities. It was far from it. The man next to him had his mind broken even though he survived the war physically. He turned to look at Sakura, who was swatting her boys with a spatula, "But a broken mind can be fixed with enough willpower and the love from people who care about you. When you are dead, you are dead."

Sasori followed his gaze and warning signs were blaring in his mind. He looked at the Uchiha who was still looking into the kitchen, "Tell me, Uchiha-san, was your mind broken?"

"Was it?" Itachi said quietly as he turned back to face Sasori.


	5. Chapter 5: Special

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 5: Special**

"A mission?" Sakura asked with surprise.

The pinkette had just completed her latest report on the Puppet Limb Project and her shishou had asked her to stay for a briefing. She looked at Sasori, who was standing by her side, but his face did not give any indications of what he was thinking. Sometimes, Sakura really hated his ability to keep a stoic face.

Tsunade nodded at her pupil, "I understand that you are currently busy with your project, but the daimyo's wife specifically asked for your assistance with her daughter. You know how she is."

"But any normal medic, even civilian ones, can assist in childbirth!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Don't get fussy with me. You are the one who always use soothing chakra whenever you heal. Don't blame me that high officials and political figures always request you when it comes to their annoying needs," Tsunade bit back.

Sakura grumbled under her breath and Sasori thought it was the cutest thing ever, but neither women could tell what was on his mind as he stared at the pinkette.

"I will be sending you with another shinobi. He has a meeting with the daimyo himself, so he will accompany you on this mission. I doubt you would need protection, so think of him as your companion. I am sure he will appreciate your presence as well."

The fine hair on Sasori's arm stood up and he was certain he knew whose name the Hokage was going to say.

"Uchiha Itachi will convene with you at the gates tomorrow at noon. This mission should take about two days, maybe three tops."

"What about Wataru-san? And Sasori?" Sakura asked. She enjoyed going on missions with her favorite captain, since he was her genjutsu sensei and the first person to allow her on a S-ranked mission despite Naruto and Sasuke's protests, but she had her priorities.

Tsunade waved a hand dismissively, "It's like you reported, Wataru-san is making good progress. There are many capable medics, including myself, who could check on him if needed. Sasori-san is here as well and can assist as needed." Then she looked at the red head, "As for our guest, he is a grown man, Sakura. He will not die if you are not here to watch over him for two days. Heck, it's your little chunin admirer that you should be worried about. He might get himself killed if you are not here to get mad at him."

"She is right, Sakura," Sasori smiled gently, "I will be alright and I will make sure that Wataru-san is, too. Don't worry." " _It is you that I am worried about._ "

"Well then. Don't forget, Sakura, tomorrow at noon. Be on your best behavior at the daimyo's castle. You two are dismissed."

Sakura sighed dejectedly as she and her ward left the Hokage office. Sasori brushed her loose bangs behind her ear. He was not sure whether he should be happy or not at the medic's reluctance to go on the mission. He would be ecstatic if her reason was because she would miss him and worry about him being alone in Konoha. However, he would be slightly disappointed if it was her dedication towards her patient and project that kept her from wanting to complete the mission. He supposed he would not know unless he asked directly, but he was scared of getting an answer he did not want.

"The daimyo's wife is a nice woman, but she is just so needy!" Sakura complained. "When she gets a cold, Sakura! When she hurts her pinky, Sakura! When her pet dog breaks his leg, Sakura! She always asks for me. There are plenty of medics fully capable of doing all that."

Sasori patted her head, "Well, it's like the Hokage said. You are too nice when you do your healing. It's your fault for spoiling people."

Sakura crossed her arms, "I just like to do a good job!" Then she sighed in acceptance, "But I suppose her commission is the main reason why I make a lot more money than other medics."

At that, the Suna-nin was curious how much each of those missions were worth. An handful of no-brainer missions to the daimyo's castle probably paid better than the three months long mission at Suna. Yet, Sakura probably would choose the three months long mission over the daimyo's missions and that was one of the reasons why Sasori was infatuated with her.

"Since I won't be here for two days and I swear I will be back in two days, let me take you to someone who can keep you company while I am gone," Sakura said suddenly as she lead Sasori towards the hospital.

Sasori titled his head. He was planning on reading in the library or the books that he had borrowed from Sakura, but he supposed that meeting another of Sakura's Konoha friends was not a bad idea.

He was wrong.

The moment that Sakura brought him into the Children Mental Health Department's management office, he felt a pair of eyes scrutinize him from head to toe. The eyes belonged to a kunoichi with platinum blonde hair and icy, teal irises. She was rather beautiful, according to his artistic self, but he only had Sakura in his eyes. Furthermore, the blonde's indiscreet stare was making him slightly nervous - he felt like she was going to eat him if he made any sudden movements, but he knew it was absurd. Sasori wondered why all of Sakura's friends made it a top priority to look at him like that. Oh wait, that's because they were all over-protective and they could probably sense his hidden feelings for the pinkette.

"Ino, this is Sasori," Sakura greeted her best friend cheerfully, "Sasori, this is Yamanaka Ino. My best friend whom you saw in my photos."

"Pleasure to meet you," Sasori said softly. He vaguely remembered that before he left Suna, Maki had came to see him to give him some advice on how to pursue Sakura. The chunin mentioned something along the lines of impressing the girl's female friends. If her guy friends did not like him, he could speak to them with his battle prowess. If her gal friends did not like him, he was basically screwed.

Ino put one hand on her hip, "So you are Sasori. Sakura told me all about you."

Honey eyes widen while Sakura blushed, "Ino! Don't say it like that! You were the one who won't stop asking questions!"

"What did she say about me?" Sasori could not stop himself from asking.

Ino's eyebrow ticked. She was not a part-time interrogator for nothing. There was something about the Suna-nin's tone and expression that was exposing a truth that the man himself did not want to share. Ino was determined to figure out what it was, but she had to wait until Sakura was out of earshot. She grinned, "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Ino, stop messing with him!" Sakura hissed.

The blonde held up her hands, "Fine! What are you doing here anyways? Aren't you working on your project?"

"I am, but shishou sent me on a mission," Sakura answered. "I brought Sasori here to meet you and to show him the Children Mental Health Department that we set up. He was interested in learning about this place. I figured that while I am gone, you, the almighty director of this department, can show him what we do here. If you have time, that is."

Sasori was surprised that the woman in front of him was the director. He knew that Sakura had developed this department with another Konoha kunoichi who was also a medic, but he did not know that the kunoichi was head of the department. He thought Sakura would have given the position to an older, more experienced medic.

As if she sensed his question, Sakura explained, "Ino is of the Yamanaka clan, they specialize in mind jutsus. Ino's family techniques have been a great help for this department; especially for some of the worst cases that the usual therapy could not help."

"Yup, which is why I am the boss around here," Ino grinned proudly.

"So can I trust you with Sasori while I am gone?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, how low do you think of me? I am not going to interrogate him," Ino tisked.

"I feel like you might," the pinkette said with a tinge of suspicion.

" _She will,_ " Sasori thought.

The next day, Sakura and Sasori went to check on Wataru one more time before Sakura had to leave for the mission. After confirming that Wataru was feeling well and that he could stand up, albeit wobbly, Sasori walked Sakura to the main gate. Itachi was already waiting there and he was in his jounin attire of black shirt, black pants, and forest green flak jacket. He nodded politely at Sasori and the red head returned the greeting in the same way.

Sakura looked at Sasori with worry brimming her eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Sakura, I lived through the last war as a child. I am sure I won't die if you are not with me for two days." Sasori comforted Sakura.

"Sasori-san is right, Sakura. You should worry about yourself. Remember how the daimyo's brother wanted to keep you there as his wife, you were lucky that Shishu pretended to be your betrothed," Itachi chuckled as he patted Sakura's head.

The pinkette blushed, "Don't remind me! This time, Shishou made sure that the daimyo's brother is away on business before she accepted the mission on my behalf!"

Itachi smirked and removed his hand. He was watching Sasori out of the corner of his eyes, but the red head did not react nor give any indication that he was affected by the conversation. The Uchiha adjusted his small pack and gave Sakura a signal, "Ready to go?"

Sakura nodded. She gave Sasori a quick hug, "Let me know if anyone gives you trouble."

With that, she bounded after Itachi, who had already taken off to the trees. Sasori watched as they faded from view. He was about to leave when he overheard the two chunin guards gossiping with each other. He recognized them from the Hokage tower, Konoha must swap guards between places, he assumed.

"It was Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura who just left, right?" one said.

"It was obvious! Who else has pink hair and dark hair like that."

"Man, although Sakura-san is so pretty, I must say that they looked good together."

Sasori's fingers twitched. He walked towards the pair.

"Sasori-san!" "Came to see Sakura-san off?" They said. Sasori noted the drastic difference between how Suna shinobis and Konoha shinobis treated him. People back home were deathly afraid of him and they had every right to do so. But because of his association with Sakura, Konoha-nins seemed to forget that he could kill them with a flick of his fingers.

"Yes."

"You are so lucky to have Sakura-san take care of you," they said.

Sasori decided that this opportunity was as good as any to gather more information on Sakura, "I overheard you two speaking. It seems that Sakura is rather popular in Konoha."

"Of course!" the other jumped in, "She is so beautiful and talented. Half the village totally loves her. But unless you are skilled enough to defeat her monstrous teammates, you won't even have a chance to have tea with her."

Sasori flexed his fingers. He was calculating his probability in defeating the Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki in battle. One on one could be easily done, but two against one might be a challenge. Especially if he had to hold back from killing them.

"I see." The red head did not notice how his eyes had turned darker with malicious intent and the two chunins shivered. They backed up, claiming they had to go back to work, and left the man alone.

After he collected himself, Sasori headed towards the hospital. There was a potential comrade there. He had noticed how Sakura's best friend had stared at him. The blonde kunoichi might think she had an upper hand on him when it came to mind games, but she was sadly mistaken. Sasori was manipulative and few people knew of his mind-control jutsus - not even his grandmother nor Sakura knew about his ability to brainwash someone and control them to do his bidding.

But he would not even need those jutsus because he knew the kunoichi would be easy to handle. After all, he only needed to give her the information that she wanted and convince her to assist him on his side mission.

Ino was speaking to a nurse in her office when Sasori arrived. The blonde was rubbing her face and the nurse looked distressed.

"What's the matter?" he found himself asking. Sakura's love for helping others was rubbing off on him.

"Oh, hi, Sasori-san," Ino greeted him, "We just got a new patient in this ward and he is, what we would call, 'shutting down'. I am heading over to his room to see him if you would like to come with."

Sasori nodded and followed after the blonde as she walked toward one of the rooms with multiple beds. This part of the hospital was basically the pediatric ward and both physical and mental treatments were given here. Sakura deemed that it was beneficial for children to be in a social environment as they recovered, unless the patient or their family was strongly against the idea. So far, most patients, except those that had to be separated due to dire circumstances, enjoyed the social rooms.

A little boy, who Sasori assumed was probably around 7 years of age, was sitting on one of the beds. His head was downcast and he paid no attention to the things going on around him. A few other children were also in the room, but they were sitting together on one person's bed and chattering loudly. Ino approached the boy with soft steps, "Hikaru-kun, how are you doing?"

The boy looked at her and Sasori noticed how similar the boy's eyes were to his, back when he first lost his parents.

Hikaru did not reply. He just stared into a spot in the room.

Ino sat down beside him and patted his hair, "The nurses told me you would not eat your meal. Would you like to talk about it?"

"No thank you," he said.

Ino sighed, "Hikaru-kun, your parents would be disappointed if you don't take care of yourself."

"My parents died on their mission," Hikaru mumbled, "They can't be disappointed in me."

Sasori glanced at the boy. He reminded him so much of himself. When his parents died, he thought the world had ended. He had given up on himself and became a shut-in who toiled over puppets. When Komushi wormed his way into his cold heart, he thought he could recover. But alas, when Komushi died, Sasori really thought there was no hope left for him in the world.

Yet, life kept coming back to him. It came back in the form of the Third Kazekage, his grandmother and grand-uncle, and Sakura. Life found a way and deep down, he did not want to die. No, he did not want to die. His mind was broken, but it cried out for help. Even though Sasori wanted to deny it, he appreciated the people who brought him back to life. He supposed that now was his turn to help someone else.

"My parents died on a mission, too," Sasori stated calmly and Ino looked at him in surprise. She did not expect him to speak.

Hikaru looked at the man who was wearing a forehead protector that he did not recognize. Sasori did not miss the gleam of curiosity behind the sea of sadness in the boy's eyes; there was still hope.

"But because they died, I live on," Sasori continued, "They gave me life and I will not waste it. I will live to my full potential and make them proud."

Hikaru whispered, "But they won't be here to be proud."

A thin thread of chakra spread from the red head's fingertip and gently touched the boy's chest, "They are there."

Ino watched the scene in amazement. She knew that many of the children who became orphaned either shut down or grow stronger and more mature than their peers. Most became stronger with therapy, but a few do shut down. Often times, it took a long time and words from wiser, experienced shinobis to bring the children out from their slump. Ino supposed that Sasori was one of those who had experienced enough pain to be a man of wise words.

The blonde stared at the man sitting across from her with renewed interest. After the little moment that Sasori and Hikaru shared, the little boy had gotten quiet as he gazed at the chakra thread touching his chest. When it dispersed and little bits of chakra faded away, Hikaru had quietly asked Ino if he could eat lunch and that he was willing to talk with her afterwards.

Currently, Hikaru was eating in the cafeteria with the nurse and Ino had retreated to her office with Sasori in tow. He was sitting comfortably on the chair across her desk, waiting for her interrogation to proceed.

"Let's just skip the small talks," Ino said with a serious face.

"As you wish," Sasori replied.

"You are hiding something and I want to know what it is, since I'm very sure that it concerns my bestie," Ino stated.

"What would I get in return if I told you?" There was challenge in Sasori's tone.

"Information that you want," Ino retorted.

Sasori nodded, "Fair enough. I have affection for Sakura and I came from Suna to take her back." The Suna-nin knew that honesty was the best tactic in dealing with the Yamanaka.

The blonde's eyes gleamed. She had half expected him to say something like that, but for him to spit it out so simply was satisfying. She also thought that it was rather cute that the man, infamous for being a cold-blooded warrior, was so honest with his feelings.

"I don't particularly fancy the idea of losing my best friend to another village," Ino tapped her chin, "But I suppose you are worthy of her."

"Worthy?"

Ino grinned, "Well, You are a highly skilled shinobi, probably just as nerdy smart as her, and you have the type of face that she likes," She reached over the table and patted the man's shoulder. "I will help you out. But you so owe me for this. "

Sasori titled his head, "Type of face?"

"Haven't you heard, Sakura likes flower boys."

The man touched his face softly, curiously. He reveried in the fact the pinkette preferred his appearance over the Uchihas' feminine, yet masculine, faces.

"Besides, I know you are special to her. She is just oblivious, I blame those overprotective teammates of hers."

"I am special to her? How so?" To Sasori, Sakura had not taken any action that indicated that he had any special place in her heart. She was kind to everyone, which was both good and bad.

Ino smirked, "I saw how you touch her hair and stuff. I am sure you are doing it out of affection, but what you don't know is that she doesn't allow everyone to do that."

A spark made Sasori's heart skip a beat.

The blonde's smirk grew when she detected the small change in the man's expression, "Of course. She hates people messing with her hair. You don't see her teammates touching her hair now, do you?"

Now that Sasori was thinking back, he had never seen the jinchuuriki nor Uchiha touched her hair. They gave her hugs and shoulder pats, but never the head nor hair. The only one he had seen to do that, besides himself, was that man.

"Uchiha Itachi."

Ino blinked, "Oh. About that."

Sasori lifted an eyebrow, waiting for the blonde to continue.

"See… Sakura had a crush on him for a while when she was a chunin. But she told me herself that she got over it, so no worries," Ino laughed nervously, knowing exactly what was running through the red head's mind as she finished her sentence.


	6. Chapter 6: Ember

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 6: Ember**

Sakura and Itachi bounded through the trees at a quick pace. The daimyo's castle was not far from the village and it took less than one day of travel for a round trip. However, Itachi noted with curiosity that Sakura was moving at a faster than usual speed. They had gone on missions together before and Itachi knew that Sakura was not slow, but she generally kept a stable pace. The Uchiha figured that the pinkette probably was not conscious of her own change in behavior.

"What meeting are you having with the daimyo, Itachi?" Sakura asked casually as they moved.

"I need his approval signature for the candidate recommendation scroll," he replied back.

"Ah," the pinkette glanced at the man beside her with a big smile. Her favorite Captain was going to accomplish great things for the village someday.

When they arrived at the castle, Sakura was quickly steered away by the servants while Itachi headed directly to the daimyo's office. Since he knew Sakura wanted to go home as soon as possible, he would complete his mission quickly. Besides, he did not particularly liked spending time at the castle either. He hated how some of the officials looked at him - some had fear in their eyes while others had ill intentions.

After they split up, the medic was brought to a well furnished bedroom. There was a huge bed in the middle and an obviously pregnant woman was resting in it. The daimyo's wife was sitting by the bed and she stood up immediately when Sakura entered the room. She rushed towards the pinkette, calling out in joy.

"Sakura-san! You are here at last, my dear!"

"Yes, nice to see you again," Sakura bowed politely.

"Come quickly, my daughter will be in labor soon," the noble woman gestured for the medic to approach the bed.

"How did you know hime-sama would be in labor soon?" Sakura already the answer, but she wanted to hear it herself.

"Our resident medic told us."

"Madam, your resident medic is more than qualified to handle delivery."

The woman huffed, "But you do the best job, dear! You make childbirth almost painless!"

Sakura sighed inwardly as she kept the smile on her face, "It is my pleasure to serve Fire Country's daimyo and his family."

"It was nice seeing you again, Uchiha-san," the daimyo patted Itachi's shoulder as he walked the younger man out of his office, "I am certain you are the best candidate for the position."

Itachi bowed, "I humbly thank you again, Daimyo-sama."

As the two men entered the grand hallway, a servant came running towards them. She had a bright smile on her face as she bowed in greeting to the daimyo, "It's a boy, daimyo-sama! You have a grandson!"

"Oh joy!" The daimyo cheered as he turned to Itachi, "Let's go see the baby, Uchiha-san."

The shinobi nodded and followed after the man, who seemed to have a skip to his step. Itachi held down a small chuckle as they walked swiftly to the room where Sakura was taken to. When they arrived, the hime was sleeping soundly on the bed while the daimyo's wife tended to the baby in her arms. The baby boy was also sleeping well like his mother.

The daimyo's wife smiled at them, "Sakura-san is amazing. The birth was fast and our daughter barely felt any pain. The boy is also healthy!" The daimyo smiled back happily as he walked closer to see the child.

Itachi looked around the room, "Where is Sakura?"

"She is in the kitchen teaching our staff how to make a herbal drink to help our daughter recover from childbirth," she answered, "Sakura-san said she learned about a new herb from her trip in Suna. How I dreaded it when we sent her off for so long, but I'm glad she enjoyed her trip and learned new things!"

"I see," Itachi said in reply as he watched the couple in front of him fawned over their grandson.

Later that evening, after Sakura finished giving orders to the kitchen and medical staffs, she joined Itachi at the main room, where the daimyo and his wife had prepared a splendid dinner for them. Sakura felt guilty everytime she ate at the daimyo's castle, because they always prepared more food than she could eat.

"Would you like to stay the night, my dears?" the wife asked.

Before Sakura could speak, Itachi answered, "My apologies, but we will be returning to Konoha tonight. We have completed our missions and should report to our Hokage as soon as we can."

"That's a shame," the daimyo said, "We welcome you two's visit anytime."

Sakura glanced at her companion from the corner of her eyes as they leapt through the trees. The sun had already set and the forest around them was dark and rustling with nocturnal life. Itachi returned her gaze directly and the pinkette almost slipped on the branch that she was on.

"Yes?" Itachi was controlling his smile.

"Thank you for that," Sakura said softly, "You knew I wanted to go back as soon as possible. I am sorry for making you travel in the dark unnecessarily.

"I was not aware you wanted to go back quickly," he replied, "I don't like staying at the castle, you know that."

The pinkette puffed out her cheeks, "Yeah, yeah. You are always so nice to me."

"That's because you are always kind to others," Itachi gave her a genuine smile that he reserved just for her.

Pink dusted Sakura's cheeks and she laughed, "It's hard to not to be nice to others when I grew up watching you."

The rest of the journey home was filled with a quiet conversation; Sakura talked about her project and Itachi told her about his latest missions. The medic truly enjoyed Itachi's company, he was always so considerate and wise. Little did she know that the ANBU captain had similar thoughts running through his mind as they ran.

By the time they arrived at Konoha, it was almost dawn. Itachi offered to see Sakura home, but she declined politely. Since it was because of her that they travelled through the night, she did not think it was fair to take more of his time. However, he insisted and proceeded to leap onto the rooftops leading towards the pinkette's apartment.

Sasori had sensed their chakra signatures long before he heard their hushed voices. He had subconsciously hid his chakra the moment he felt theirs and since Sakura and Itachi were not paying attention to chakra signatures, they did not notice. The Suna-nin focused his hearing as he strained to hear the conversation outside Sakura's front door. He had settled comfortably on Sakura's couch since he wanted to see her as soon as she came home, but he did not expect the pair to be back already.

"Thank you for walking me home," Sakura said quietly, trying her best to be polite to her neighbors. "You are too kind."

"For you, Sakura, anytime," Itachi patted her head and she waved as he jumped up and faded away among Konoha's dimly lit buildings.

When the pinkette opened the door, she was both surprised and happy to see the red head sitting on her couch. However, the expression on his face made her feel like a stone had just dropped into the pit of her stomach. She quickly shut the door and walked toward him, "Did something happen while I was gone? Is Wataru-san alright? Are you alright?"

She grabbed his shoulders and Sasori looked at her, "Everything is alright." His smile was forced but the room was too dark for Sakura to notice.

Sakura plopped down on the couch next to him and sighed in relief, "Don't scare me like that!" Then she sat up immediately, "Then what are you doing here?"

Sasori looked at his palms, "I wanted to see you the moment you get home from your mission, that's all."

A giddy smile formed on her face as Sakura gave him a side hug, "Aw, you missed me!"

"I did," Sasori said quietly.

Sakura thought it was strange that he did not return her hug as usual, "Are you unwell? You seem a little off."

The red head wondered why it was so easy to spill his feelings towards Sakura's best friend, but he could not even ask the girl herself questions that dug at him. He opened his mouth, but closed it again. Sakura looked at him expectantly, waiting patiently. She stroked his hair, "You can tell me anything, you know?"

Sasori gazed into the viridian green eyes that were staring right at him. They were glowing from the moon's reflection, much like the night when he confided in her his distaste for farewells.

"I… I..."

Sakura blinked in anticipation.

"I am just sleepy."

"Oh," the pinkette blinked again, "If that's the case." Sakura stood up from the couch and swiftly picked Sasori up bridal style. His eyes widen and she laughed. She carried him to the room he previously occupied and set him down on the bed gently. She adjust the pillow and blanket around him, while cooing baby words. But before she could pull away, Sasori grabbed her with his chakra strings and yanked her down onto the bed with him. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, spooning her, and nuzzled against the back of her head.

"Hey, I am all gross from the mission!" Sakura complained as Sasori pulled her closer to his body, relishing in her warmth.

"That's fine," Sasori sighed, "It's your bedsheets anyways."

Sakura struggled but his grip was relentless. "This is quite inappropriate. What would your grandmother say if she knows about this."

"She would tell me to take you home and make you her granddaughter-in-law," Sasori whispered, "Now shush."

Little did Sasori know how his words affected the medic as he drifted off to slumber. Sakura's pulse quickened slightly and a light pink dusted her cheeks. She could feel the warmth spreading from her cheeks to her ears and neck. Plus, even though she had slept in such close proximity with others before, namely Naruto and Sasuke, this time felt different. Her teammates' warm contact made her feel safe and secure, but Sasori's cuddle made her feel more than that. She could not place the feeling, but she found that she rather enjoyed it as she also drifted off.

When Sasori awoke, his senses told him something was off. Then he remembered his bold act last night and it took all his willpower to control his breathing and heart rate, he did not want to risk waking the pinkette. Somehow, during the night, Sakura had turned and was now facing Sasori's chest. Her face was nuzzled against his sternum and he could feel the warm air from her nose every time she exhaled. Her pink hair was sprawled all over the place, covering both his arms and her frame.

He risked stroking her hair and she mumbled something unintelligible. Sasori smiled gently, "I love you."

"... I love you, too."

Sasori's eyes widen and his heart raced.

"Talking Anmitsu-san," a sleepy smile graced the pinkette's face, "You are the best."

Sasori's pulse slowed immediately and he rolled his eyes at the pinkette. How dared she dream of talking food when he was confessing his feelings to her. But then again, he rather had her stay asleep then wake up to his words. That would be awkward and Sasori did not want to imagine what could have happened.

The red head stared at the medic's sleeping face for a few more minutes before he looked over her head to see the clock on the little table by the corner of the room. It was about the time when Sakura usually woke up, but he supposed that since she returned to Konoha so late last night, her body needed the extra rest.

Deciding to make breakfast for the pinkette, Sasori tried to ease himself away from Sakura. However, the moment his chest lost contact with hers, she reached out and wrapped her arms around him. Sasori froze as Sakura nuzzled against him and smiled sheepishly again. He supposed it would not hurt to lay down by her side for a while longer. Besides, when else would he get a chance to be so close to her like this?

About half an hour passed before Sakura began stirring. Even though she had less sleep than usual, her internal clock was telling her that it was time to wake up. Sasori watched with curiosity as her arms slowly released him and she brought one hand up to rub her eyes. A small yawn escaped her lips before she finally cracked open her eyes. The Suna-nin held down his laughter as Sakura's pupils dilated in a split second as her mind registered what was going on.

"Morning," Sasori said softly.

It was clear to Sakura that the man in front of her was probably awake for a while. She narrowed her eyes, "Were you watching me sleep? That's kind of creepy, you know?"

Sasori did not break eye contact with her, "I was going to get up and make food, but you held on to me and wouldn't let go."

A red flush colored Sakura's cheeks as her eyes lit up with a blaze. The only time Sasori had ever since her like this was when she accidentally stepped on one of his puppets and cracked it. He rather liked her embarrassed face.

"I did no such thing!" Sakura protested.

Sasori sighed, "You molested me and you won't take responsibility."

The blush spread down Sakura's neck and onto her ears, "What?! You were the one who dragged me down!"

Sasori finally lost control and broke out in laughter as Sakura sat up with an undignified scowl. She grabbed the nearest pillow and smacked him, but she only held back slightly and Sasori knew, because the hit stung his shoulder.

He growled, "So you want to play dirty, huh?"

The pinkette stuck her tongue out at him, but in the blink of an eye, she found herself slammed onto the bed. One of his hand was holding her wrists together and the other was on her thigh. She could feel the unique tingling of chakra threads wrapping around her wrists and all along her legs. Their hold was gentle, but secure enough that Sakura knew there was no escape.

She stared up at burning embers. His face was mere centimeters from hers, much closer than it had ever been before. She could see the fine streaks that lined his irises clearly and each of his lashes in sharp detail. Sakura had always thought his eyes were beautiful, but this was the first time that she felt hypnotized. Air left her lungs, rendering her breathless.

"Do you yield?" he breathed out and Sakura felt her heart skipped a beat.

A bright pink tinted the pinkette's cheeks and the green in her eyes glowed like an emerald forest at night. Sasori saw how her plump lips parted slightly and her pupils dilated even more. He could smell her at full force and her natural scent was sending his nerves on overdrive. He could feel the fine hair on her skin standing up in anticipation through his chakra threads. For a second, he thought she wanted him, but he quickly pushed that sinful desire away from his mind.

Sakura turned away, breaking eye contact. "You cheater."

The tone she used to accuse him almost made Sasori lose all self control. He realized it was one of his dumbest ideas when he thought pushing Sakura down would not be a big deal.

He released his chakra and his hold on her, "I take that as you yield."

Sakura immediately jumped off the bed. Before she ran out of the room, she stuck her tongue out at him one more time.

Sasori rubbed his face with his palm and groaned at his own stupidity. He knew that he if had set Sakura free a moment later, something irreversible might have happened. He had been a cold and self-disciplined ANBU for more than a decade and all it took was one little blush from the Konoha kunoichi to make him act like a reckless genin. She was going to be the cause of his death or some sort of international incident.

The pinkette turned the shower to full blast and stuck her head under the running water. She ran her hands through her hair and stared at the tiles that lined the wall of the shower. The burning embers of Sasori's eyes were haunting Sakura's mind - they enchanted her and it took much willpower to tear her eyes away from them. That intense feeling that took her breath away was not new, but Sakura feared what it implied. The only other time when she had the same sensation was when she was looking at a pair of onyx irises, after a rather difficult mission.

"But that's the past," Sakura mumbled as water ran down her face.

After he heard the shower turn on, Sasori decided to make himself useful. He had gathered up the dirty bed sheets and threw them in the laundry and then made his way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Ino told him that one way to a woman's heart, especially Sakura's, was a healthy and delicious homemade breakfast, and he was going to deliver.


	7. Chapter 7: Is it Envy or Jealousy?

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 7: Is it Envy or Jealousy?**

"Honestly, why did Shishou get you a place to stay if you were just going to do this?" Sakura pointed out as she made cups of tea for both herself and Sasori, while the man watched her from his vantage point on the couch.

It had been two days since the "bed" incident and after the Suna-nin saw how Sakura reacted to their close proximity, he decided to become bolder. Things were either going to become awkward or intimate and Sasori chose the latter. Thus, since that night, after he and Sakura had dinner at her apartment, he remained at her home instead of going back to his own place. The pinkette had given him a look, but he brushed it aside. When she went to bed, he had trailed after her like a puppy. She had sighed, but allowed him to climb in with her and cuddle her back like he did before. Sakura mentioned something about being needy whereas Sasori claimed that seeking warmth was a survival instinct and had nothing to do with being needy.

Sakura had scoffed because they both knew he was just making excuses.

"I told you, I like your warmth," Sasori replied calmly.

"If Chiyo-sama knew how you are acting right now, she will faint from shock," Sakura said offhandedly as she passed him a cup.

Sasori himself was not sure if her statement was accurate anymore. He had acted more and more out of character ever since the Konoha medic came into his life and everyone in Suna knew that. His grandmother would probably pass out from glee more than shock if she knew how things were progressing in Konoha.

After the pair finished their breakfast and tea, they headed out to the hospital. There was good progress with Wataru's healing and Sakura expected that he would be able to walk without assistance today. When she visited the prior evening, he was taking baby steps while leaning against the rails of his bed. She was certain that he would be able to walk steadily on his own within a few days and then she would discharge him from the hospital, given that he visit the hospital for his appointments every few days to ensure his progress.

When they entered the room, Wataru was standing up by the foot of his bed. There was a bright and warm smile on his face as he greeted Sakura and Sasori, "Good morning!"

"How are you feeling, Wataru-san?" Sakura asked as she walked closer towards him while giving his body a quick glance to check for abnormalities.

"I can take a few steps on my own, watch!" he released his hold on the bed and stepped towards Sakura. Each step was slow, but they were steady. He was no longer wobbly on his artificial limb.

Tears almost came out of the pinkette's eyes as she watched him, "How are you feeling?"

"Great! The chakra flow to the limb definitely feels different from the flow to my other leg, but it's nothing major. To be honest, that feeling had decreased as time went on."

"That's because your body adjusted to it," Sasori spoke up, "You should not notice the difference soon, but you cannot forget it's not your actual leg. You still need to properly maintain it."

Wataru mock saluted the Suna-nin, "Yes, sir! I will not forget."

"I am just glad that you are in such good spirits, Wataru-san," Sakura commented as she helped him sit back down on the bed.

"I do have one question though," Wataru said with curiosity, "I know the limb is made of wood, but I feel with it. It really startled me at first, but it only amazes me now."

Sakura grinned, "You have to ask Sasori that."

"I prepped the wood with a special jutsu. It provides sensing abilities on the limb and as long as your chakra flows through it, you will be able to sense the environment. It is possible to manipulate the jutsu so that you don't feel pain, but that can be dangerous if you are not careful. However, if the limb does get damaged or broken, you would feel ordinary pain up till the moment your chakra loses contact," Sasori explained.

"That's amazing!"

"That does not mean you can be reckless with it!" Sakura scolded him.

Wataru lifted up his hands in surrender, "Sorry, Sakura-san, don't hurt me!"

Sasori smirked, "She is the only medic who would hurt her patients and fix them right after."

"I am not!"

The chunin watched the pair in amusement. There was obviously something going on, but who was he to point it out. The two higher ranked shinobis would come to term with it on their own time.

Sakura stretched her arms over her head as she entered her office. After checking on Wataru, she had went on a quick round, leaving Sasori alone in her office doing whatever he usually did when he waited for her. This time, she came back to him reading one of her journals on chakra scalpels. He was sitting in her comfy office chair, so she sat down on the small couch that she used for power naps during busy days.

"I was wondering about something," Sakura said softly, getting the red head's attention, "Why did you create a jutsu that allows a puppet limb to sense the environment? Does it help when you use your puppets to battle?"

There was only silence as the pinkette watched various emotions swirl behind the depths of honey. For a moment, she wanted to take back her questions. The last time she saw Sasori make such an expression was when he talked about his friend who passed away. She could tell that he was sad, but he was trying to hide it.

"It's okay if you don't want to answer, I am sorry for asking."

"It's fine. I created the jutsu because..." Sasori blinked slowly, "I was planning on turning myself into a living puppet."

The medic's eyes widen, "A living puppet?"

He looked at his palms. She noticed he always did that when he was upset.

"I thought immortality was the greatest way to create a legacy. I created the jutsu so that I could become a puppet and still be able to sense my environment like any ninja could. At that point in my life, I thought that was what I should do. I would become the greatest puppeteer by turning myself into a puppet."

"But you didn't do it," Sakura said quietly.

Sasori smiled wistfully, "but I didn't do it."

"Why?"

"The Kazekage showed me that there was still much to live for. He was the reason I stayed in Suna. He made me see that I was important to the village and that I had already became a legacy with the puppets that I've made and the techniques that I've developed."

"So even though you act like the Kazekage is annoying, you actually really appreciate him," Sakura pointed out in attempt to lighten the mood.

He rolled his eyes at her.

A light blush dusted Sakura's cheeks as she beamed at him, "I am glad that you didn't become a puppet."

Sasori was nearly blinded by the absolute happiness on the pinkette's face. He opened his mouth, "Sakura, I..."

"Sakura-sensei!" a loud shout from outside the door interrupted the Suna-nin's sentence.

Sakura shot up from the couch and nearly yanked her door off its hinges, "What's the matter?"

"Come quick, we need your help!" with that, the medic that shouted gestured for Sakura to follow him.

"I will be back," Sakura called over her shoulder to Sasori as she followed the medic out.

"An ANBU squad returning from their mission found a team of Iwa-nins that was ambushed a few miles from Konoha. It was a diplomatic convoy and the only shinobi that was conscious when they were brought in said that they were ambushed by rogues. The other two members were poisoned. They are lucky that you are here!"

Sakura smiled lightly, "Well, let's get down to business!"

The poison extraction and healing did not take long and while she was working on the patients, Sakura listed the ingredients of the toxin to one of the nurses. She had encountered this poison before and knew exactly how to create its antidote, but the problem was that it took someone who was highly skilled with chakra control to make it. Normally, she would do it herself right after extraction, but there was someone whom she trusted to complete the antidote just as well and he was probably just reading right at that moment.

After writing down everything Sakura said, the slightly confused nurse ran to her office to find the Suna-nin who had returned to reading his book. "Haruno-sensei told me to give you this list and take you to her lab." She passed the piece of paper to Sasori, who looked at the words with slight annoyance.

"Did she really just name the toxin instead of the antidote?" he crumpled the paper, "Had to go and make me do extra work."

The nurse was a little nervous, "Um, she said you would know what to do once we get to her lab."

"Yeah," Sasori sighed, "I know what she wants. Let's go."

Sakura waited patiently for the two Iwa shinobis to wake up. The one who was conscious was lucky and did not get poisoned. Another medic had tended to his injuries and he was currently answering some questions for the ANBUs that found him. One of the Iwa nins was a kunoichi and she weakly opened her eyes first.

"Where am I?" she barely choked out and Sakura immediately rushed to her side.

"This is Konoha's hospital. Our ANBUs found your team and brought you here for treatment."

The kunoichi sat up in alarm, "Where is the rest of my team?! Are they okay?"

Sakura eased the woman back down, "One is on the bed right next to you and the other was less injured. He is with the ANBUs right now."

The kunoichi sighed in relief, "I am the team leader, Soya. The one with darker hair on my team is Morio and the one with lighter hair is Gou. We are thankful for your assistance."

"I am Haruno Sakura. We are glad to be of help, please relax and rest. You and Morio-san were poisoned, I extracted most of the toxin and an antidote to clear the rest of the residue is being made as we speak."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Sasori was slightly, only very slightly, jealous of Sakura's lab in the hospital. There were numerous plants and herbs stored in neat jars all throughout the lab - some of those specimens were very difficult to obtain and there were some that even he had rarely possessed. Since Sakura was so organized, bordering obsessively well-kept, he was able to find everything he needed after one glance at the room. The antidote was difficult to make due to the very specific amount of chakra needed to combine it, but it was well within his ability. Once he was done, he had the nurse take him to where Sakura was waiting.

When he entered the room, he noticed that both patients were already awake and chatting quietly with Sakura. The kunoichi was radiating confidence, despite her state, while the other shinobi appeared quite shy. Sasori narrowed his eyes when he saw a clear blush line the man's cheeks as he looked at Sakura. He approached the group, but before he could take action to stake his claim, Sakura turned and grabbed the vials that were in his hands. She gave him a quick smile before instructing the Iwa-nins to drink the concoction.

"You two should rest now, I will let your third teammate know that you two will be just fine after some rest."

"Will we see you again?" Morio asked suddenly, his blush deepened.

Sakura was surprised at the man's tone whereas Sasori mentally hissed.

"Well, the resident medics are more than qualified to check up on you two prior to discharge. So, not necessarily."

"Just confess already, fool," Soya said as she stared at her teammate.

There was an awkward silence as Morio glanced at his team leader with a betrayed expression, but she did not seem to regret what she had just said.

The kunoichi continued speaking, "I knew your name was familiar, Haruno-san. Now that I am more conscious, I remember how Morio couldn't stop talking about you when we were given the mission to come here. He had been a fan ever since you came to our village a year ago to heal one of our nobles. He only saw you from afar, but he was totally smittened."

"Soya!" the other Iwa-nin cried out in embarrassment.

Sakura looked at the man and bowed in apology, "I am sorry, Morio-san. I am thankful for your feelings, but I can't accept them."

The man rubbed the back of his head, "Don't be sorry! I didn't really expect anything when we came here. I would really like it if you could at least be my friend."

"Wimp," Soya said through her teeth, causing Morio to glare at her.

"Of course," Sakura held out a hand for the man to shake, "I am always glad to make a new friend. But you two must rest now, no more chatting. I will see you again while you are in Konoha, as a friend."

Sasori glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eyes as they waited for their food to arrive. After leaving the hospital, the pair had decided to get a snack at the local sweet shop.

"Quite popular, aren't you?" he commented.

"Envious?"

"No, I rather not have random shinobis confessing to me," Sasori said, making Sakura nearly choke on her spit.

"It happens quite often when you are a medic," Sakura replied casually.

Sasori narrowed his eyes for a quick second, but he decided to let her statement go. However, he was curious about something else, "I didn't know you had a mission in Iwa."

"It was my first solo A-ranked mission," Sakura explained, "I also encountered an ambush like that team when I was coming back to Konoha, but it happened in a country between Leaf and Earth. I came out victorious, but I was a little, just a little, scared when I did not have anyone to watch my back."

There was faraway look on Sakura's face as she recalled that mission. To be fairly honest, it was not the mission itself that was memorable, it was what happened after that was. When Sakura arrived back to Konoha, the first person she encountered was Itachi. He was leaving the Hokage Tower whereas she was reporting back.

She remembered how when she told him about her journey to Iwa and defeating her ambushers, he had such pride in his eyes. The empty span of his dark, dark eyes was brimming with joy and honor for her. There was also a smile, reserved especially for the people he cared deeply about, on his face as he listened. She had always respected and admired him, but at that moment, she was hypnotized.

Sakura supposed that feeling she got was "liking" someone and it was much different than the measly crush that she had on Sasuke when she was a genin.

Sasori's chest tightened at the look on her face. She was remembering something that she was not telling him and whatever it was, it irked him. "I am sure you did just fine,"he said, in attempt to break her out of her memories.

The pinkette blinked and glanced at him, "Yeah. For a chunin, I did just fine."

"Sakura."

Sasori was getting more and more irritated - the world just seemed to come between him and Sakura today. Behind Sakura stood the man that the Suna-nin had deemed his rival. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, but both Sakura and Sasori knew who he was by his voice. The medic turned around with a small smile, but Sasori caught a brief wavering of her eyes before he lost sight of her face.

"What can I do for you, Captain?" she asked, hiding her surprise from both men. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she felt his presence behind her back.

"I just finished speaking with the Iwa shinobi that my team found. The nurses told me that you treated the two poisoned members."

Sakura blinked, "Oh! I did not know it was your team!"

Itachi nodded, "Yes. We were returning from a short mission. I am on my way to report to Hokage-sama, but I saw you."

"Pink hair is hard to miss."

A small chuckle escaped behind the mask and Sasori nearly rolled his eyes.

The Uchiha reached out and fixed one of the loose pink strands, "When I saw they were Iwa-nins, I remembered that your first solo A-ranked mission took place in Iwa."

Sakura almost stuttered like Hinata, "You remembered?"

"Of course," he pulled his hand away and stepped back. "I must take my leave now, see you later, Sakura, Sasori-san."

The pinkette nodded while Sasori looked on with a blank face as the ANBU leapt away on the rooftops.

 **Hello all, I am having some trouble with this story (but I will finish it!). I honestly wrote this story and _The Exchange_ to release my feels, so if anyone have special events or requests that you would like to read about. I am open to suggestions! I do get inspired, but don't feel obligated to suggest anything!**


	8. Chapter 8: Shisui ships Itasaku

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 8: Shisui ships Itasaku**

Itachi did not know what had came over him when he approached the pair sitting by the sweets shop. He was telling the truth to the pinkette when he said he was on his way to the Hokage Tower, but something pulled him towards her. "Protecting territory" would be a good phrase to describe his action, but Sakura was not his "territory" and she definitely did not need protection, so that would not make sense.

"But she could be mine," he said softly to himself as he landed in front of the Hokage Tower.

Team 7 was not always welcomed by the Uchiha clan, they were far from it. Some of the older members of the clan despised having the jinchuuriki and a girl from a nameless family on the same team as Sasuke, who was second in line in succeeding the clan. For Itachi, they had pulled strings to ensure that he was on a team with strictly Uchihas. However, when Tsunade came into power, clan influences took a big hit. She did not allow any nonsense from the Uchihas and Itachi was proud to call her the Hokage. And as time went on, Team 7 proved their worth again and again. The clan elders had nothing to back their accusations and Fugaku had shut them up once and for all when he invited Team 7 to their annual family gathering.

It was at the gathering that Itachi truly got to know who Haruno Sakura was. They had known of each other before Team 7 was formed. She was an academy student and he was a dutiful older brother who walked his charge home whenever he had time, so it made sense that they had seen each other. Besides, it was hard to forget a girl with pink hair and bright green eyes. After Team 7 was formed, he officially met her through Sasuke. They were acquaintances and he appreciated her politeness towards him. However, he did agree with his brother that Sakura's obsession over Sasuke when they were genins was a problem. But things changed after the chunin exams, she was beginning to grow into her own, alongside Naruto and Sasuke.

All of Team 7 were chunins when they attended the gathering, but everyone knew they would be promoted to jounins in the near future. Itachi remembered he was sitting alone, resting from all the conversations around him, when the pinkette sat down beside him. She was complimenting his ability to attend all medical exams without procrastination and whining, a stark difference from all the other top tier shinobis, and that somehow lead to a conversation that lasted deep into the night. They grew closer after that and he began to train her in genjutsu since she mentioned she had the affinity for it, but Tsunade did not specialize in that field.

People did not find their relationship eventful, since the Uchiha was rather close to all of Team 7. He trained all three of them when they asked him to and he was always welcomed to their ramen nights. But deep down, Itachi knew he treated Sakura differently than the boys.

She was full of life, both her appearance and personality were brimming with vivid vitality. It was something that the Uchihas lacked - it was something that he wanted. Itachi knew that Sakura would most likely reciprocate his affections, but his title as clan heir was holding him back. As successor, he was supposed to marry within the clan or else the more traditional members of the clan would give his significant other a difficult time as matriarch.

However, things were going to change and the young ANBU captain would see to it himself.

Sasori's eyes followed after Sakura as she walked around her lab, inspecting all the jars and bottles. After the break at the sweets shop, she decided that it was time to reorganize and restock her supplies. Since Sasori was just given access to her lab, she figured she might as well take advantage of him and make him help her clean.

The red head was given a cleaning rag to occupy himself while Sakura did inventory. He noticed that she seemed a bit dazed compared to usual. Although she was trying to act normal, Sasori sensed that the appearance of Itachi had triggered something on her mind and he was certain it had to do with the memory that she did not share with him.

"You and the Uchiha heir seem close," he said in a nonchalant tone, but his intention was anything but nonchalant.

"Well, he is my favorite ANBU captain," Sakura replied without stopping her work, "But you knew that already."

Sasori decided to take a gamble, "He is important to you. He is special."

The pinkette stilled. After a short pause, she resumed her task, "I used to have feelings for him."

He did not expect her to confess so bluntly. Sasori already knew of her past affections from Ino's intel, but for her to say it as if it meant nothing… felt like it was something.

"Care to elaborate?" he tested the water.

Sakura finally stopped what she was doing and turned to give him her full attention, "What's gotten into you?"

"You left me with Yamanaka-san for two days, her passion for drama rubbed off on me."

A small laugh escaped Sakura's lips, "It's a rather long story."

"For you, I have all the time in the world," Sasori replied as he pulled out two lab stools and beckoned Sakura to sit.

She smiled at him and sat down, "Well, I guess I can summarize for you. I realized I had feelings for Itachi after I returned from the mission in Iwa, but at that time, I was just a chunin. I knew I was not good enough to be with him. So I wanted to become stronger before I confess. However, not long before I was promoted to jounin, I met this kunoichi from the clan. She was injured on a mission and I was the medic treating her. She was heads over heels for him and she told me how she had the best chances of being his wife out of all the possible candidates since she grew up with him."

Sakura paused, "That was when I knew I had no chance of ever being with him, even if I confessed. So, before I could fall any deeper, I pulled myself back."

Sasori's heart ached as he listened to her, but he never broke eye contact. He was not certain if he was hurting for himself or for her. He reached out and brushed her hair, similar to how Itachi did back at the shop, but he did not notice how unlike earlier, she was leaning into his touch.

"Why am I so vulnerable toward pretty faces?" Sakura said softly as she pulled away.

Sasori wondered for a brief moment if he was included in that question, but he pushed the curiosity aside. Sakura was reminiscing about the past and it would not do for her to dwindle in it any longer. He smiled lightly, "Because you have one yourself?"

A small blush spanned across her cheeks and the forelong look dissipated. "You think I am pretty?"

The red head rolled his eyes, "Have I ever said or done anything to indicate that you are not?"

"I can't believe my face was just complimented by Akasuna no Sasori, puppet maker extraordinaire," Sakura made an exaggerated gasp, "When I met some of the younger puppet makers, they whispered behind your back, saying how you are super harsh when it came to judging their work. It was rare to get a compliment from you, especially one about beauty."

There was absolute honesty in his eyes as he said, "I thought you were beautiful at first glance, even though you had ran into the greenhouse with your hair and clothes in disarray. I still think so, even this moment."

Sakura did not know whether to be flustered by his sincere and frank compliment or be upset that his first impression of her was a kunoichi with messy hair and clothes. She scoffed, "I was saving a man's arm, thank you very much."

Tsunade nodded in approval as Itachi finished reporting the Iwa-nins' incident. "Good job. If something happened to that team, we would have an international incident."

"That's probably what the rogues wanted," the Uchiha commented.

The Hokage sighed, "Some people are so conflict hungry. War is a horrible thing and yet they thrive from it."

Itachi nodded in agreement.

"Anyways," Tsunade continued, "All the signatures we need are gathered. We just need to hold a meeting with the daimyo, Elders, ANBU representative, and the jounin council to settle everything. Once that's done and I am sure that there would be little dilemma, we will start your training and I will be one step closer to retiring to the Kingdom of the Moon."

"There should be no issues from my clan. I had numerous meetings with the council and my father. Sasuke is well aware of the situation," Itachi added.

"How did he take it?" Tsunade knew that the younger Uchiha was one of the more "different" Uchihas. He believed in change and thriving outside of the clan, if anything, he would not have wanted to play a role in his clan's politics.

"He was not pleased with the idea at first, but he had come to accept it. I believe that his leadership would be good for our clan."

"Are Naruto and Sakura aware of the situation?" Tsunade asked. She knew it was Naruto's dream to be Hokage someday, but that day was not here yet. As for Sakura, the blonde knew she was rather close to Itachi, so he probably told her himself.

"They are aware."

"I see," she nodded, "You are dismissed. I will summon you when the date is set."

The Uchiha heir returned home with slow steps. When he had first broke the news to the blonde and pinkette, Naruto had threw a small fit, complaining how he stole his dream. However, he came to understand that Itachi was a better choice for political reasons and that his turn would come in the near future. As for Sakura, she had asked a simple question "What about the clan?" He told her that it would be taken care of by Sasuke. At his answer, a strange look passed her eyes, but it was gone before he could ask about it. Even now, he still could not find the perfect moment to bring it back up and talk about it.

When he neared the compound, he saw three familiar figures standing by the main entrance. Technically, they were all his cousins, but they were not closely related cousins. The only male of the group saw him first and waved, "Hey, Itachi!"

The shorter girl turned at his name and squealed in happiness. She ran towards him and almost hugged him, but she remembered how he once politely asked her to not do that. "Itachi-kun! I haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Chuya," he greeted the girl and then the other two, "Izumi, Shisui."

"How is it going, couz? I see you are in gear," Shisui commented as Itachi joined the group, with Chuya following behind.

"Just returned from a mission. There was an incident on the way back."

Izumi scanned over him, "You weren't injured, were you?"

"I am alright. It was a diplomatic team that was injured on their way here, but Sakura handled it."

Shisui grinned, "Haven't seen Sakura in a while! I heard she is busy with this new project she is working on."

"Sakura-san is so hardworking," Izumi added, "I was at the hospital getting my annual exam and I saw her with the patient she is working with. She seems to be working on prosthetic limbs, from what I could see."

"Prosthetic limbs?" Shisui blinked in surprise and Izumi nodded in response.

"Yes, she is using puppet parts for the limbs. A Suna puppeteer came to Konoha to assist her. Sakura told me that she got the idea when she was on the exchange," Itachi explained.

Izumi exclaimed, "That must have been the red head I saw in the room with her! He did not look familiar, but he was rather good-looking."

Shisui stared at her and she chuckled, "You are my boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I can't think someone looks handsome. Itachi is handsome, too!"

Chuya tapped her chin, "Do you think Sakura-san is in a relationship with him?"

At that, Shisui looked at Itachi, who did not display any action that indicated he was affected by the question. He knew of his younger cousin's feelings for the pinkette. To be honest, it was Izumi who first noticed Itachi's affections. A few years back, Izumi was one of the many girls who had a crush on Itachi, but she sensed that his attention was directed elsewhere. Since she was good friends with both Shisui and Itachi, she told Shisui, who somehow managed to drag a confession out of the elusive Itachi.

"Sakura did not say they were," Itachi answered the question. Truthfully, that question had plagued his own mind when he saw the pair at the sweets shop. Something had changed between them. Call it a ninja's intuition, but from between the time he first met the Suna-nin and today, something must have happened and shifted their dynamics. Itachi was not sure if he liked that shift. Perhaps it was that feeling that drove him to interrupt the pair earlier.

Chuya tilted her head, "I don't really know Sakura-san that well, but from what I know, she seems to be a good person. She was really nice to me when she treated me at the hospital. I wonder why she has never been in a relationship. At least, not that I know of."

Shisui rolled his eyes, "Hello? Do you not know who her teammates are? Every man who even attempted to pursue Sakura, except for Rock Lee and Kakashi, have ended up in the hospital one way or another."

"Sakura-san must find a strong person to be with then," Chuya tapped her chin, "But Naruto-san and Sasuke are so strong. There are few shinobis who could take them on, especially when they work together."

Shisui winked, "Itachi here is strong."

The quieter male lifted one eyebrow while Izumi covered her smile with the back of her hand.

"What? That's impossible! Itachi-kun is going to be clan head and his wife must be an Uchiha!" Chuya shouted as she thought, " _And it's going to be me!_ "

Shisui wanted to roll his eyes at the younger girl again, but he worried that he might pop the globes out of their socket. As of now, the plan of having Sasuke become the next clan head was only known to a few members. There was no way that Chuya would know about it. Shisui snickered at the thought that all the possible matriarch candidates, who were insanely obsessed with Itachi, would be highly disappointed when they find out they never had a chance to be with him.

"You know, I think I will go pay Sakura a visit tomorrow," Shisui grinned, "I should get my annual exam done, too. Have been neglecting it for a few weeks."

Izumi sighed. Leave it to Shisui to only get his health checked when there was something else that he wanted.

"Want to go with me, couz? I let you hold my hand."

Chuya rolled her eyes whereas Itachi rubbed his temple with a tired sigh.

As promised, Itachi accompanied his best friend to Konoha hospital the next afternoon. Since Shisui just randomly dropped in without making an appointment and made a fuss that he would only see Sakura, the nurses threw the pair into one of the exam rooms. They told the Uchihas that Sakura was busy with her Puppet Limb patient, but they let her know that a troublesome patient was waiting for her.

"It's been a while since I've last been here," Shisui whistled as he looked around the clean, bright room.

Itachi replied, "You don't get hurt easily and you avoid the hospital at all costs, there is no reason for you to be here."

Shisui grinned, "Of course!"

The door to the room jerked open and Sakura stomped in with an angry expression. She made a beeline straight for Shisui, "I was told that you were causing an havoc at the reception area."

Itachi noted that the Suna-nin was not with her.

"That's the best way to get you to come here right away," Shisui smiled cheekily.

The pinkette grabbed his cheeks and pinched with a little bit of force, "Or you could be like Itachi and just make an appointment when you are suppose to get your exam done!"

Shisui pulled away and rubbed his throbbing face with a small whimper. "How could you treat me like this Sakura?" he pouted, "I thought you loved me."

Sakura sighed as she placed her glowing palms onto Shisui's chest to begin her examination. The man had already taken off his shirt the moment he was tossed into the room.

A gentle hum of Sakura's chakra was the only sound in the room, until Itachi spoke up, "Sakura, where is Sasori-san?"

The medic turned her head to face him while keeping her hands firm on Shisui's chest, "Sasori is at the pediatric ward. Apparently, he is great help with some of the more troubled children."

"Pediatric? Children?" Shisui blinked in surprise, "A cold-blooded ANBU from Suna is good with children at the pediatric ward?"

He felt a sharp twinge of pain as Sakura hissed, "He is not cold-blooded."

"Sorry! Don't kill me," Shisui whined.

"Sasori lost his parents during the war," Sakura explained softly, "That is why he understands how some of the children feel and they look up to him."

Itachi looked at Sakura in silence. He did not know much of Akasuna no Sasori' background beside what was in the bingo books and stories of shinobis who had encountered the Suna-nin on the field. He knew he was the grandson of one of Suna's Elders, but he never expected that his parents were killed in the war.

"Alright, everything checked out fine as I expected," Sakura backed away from Shisui and reached for the hand sanitizer in the room, "Please make an appointment next time. I am a busy woman, you know!"

Shisui grinned childishly, "You say that every year!"

"You are free to go."

Shisui slipped his shirt back on with ease. "Actually, I didn't just come for an appointment. I haven't seen you in awhile, do you want to grab dinner together tonight? Let's have a double date! Izumi with me and Itachi with you. What do you say?"

Itachi eyed his cousin, " _What are you up to?_ "

Sakura narrowed her eyes, "That's a date with two third-wheelers."

"I promise we won't treat you like third-wheelers. Besides, Izumi was asking about your little project. She hasn't seen you in a while too and she wants to learn about it," Shisui explained with pretend innocence.

The pinkette shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I have to watch over Sasori while he is here. I usually bring him along if I go out."

"But we might talk about the old days, you don't want him to feel left out, do you?"

Shisui could feel Itachi's questioning stare burn into his head at this point.

"I guess not," Sakura made her decision making face as she went over her options. It was true that she had not spend time with Shisui nor Izumi for a while. She met Izumi through Itachi and Shisui when she was a chunin and Sakura greatly appreciated Izumi as an older sister figure. The Uchiha kunoichi was friendly and outgoing and she was one of the few Uchihas who welcomed Team 7 with warmth.

Shisui continued, "Besides, I am sort of jealous of that Suna-nin now. He is hogging all your time. I am sure he can take care of himself for one dinner!"

"Fine!" Sakura surrendered, "I will let Sasori know. When and where are we meeting?"

"Let's meet at 7 at that fancy restaurant where we celebrated Izumi's birthday."

It was obvious to Itachi that Shisui was scheming and his gut was telling him that this was a mission doomed for disaster.


	9. Chapter 9: Shots fired

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 9: Shots fired**

Sasori was at a lost for words as he stared at the kunoichi, who smoothed down her dress as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Does it look okay?" Sakura asked, "I didn't want to dress up too much, but it is a higher class restaurant, so I can't go in my usual clothes."

Sasori swallowed discreetly.

The Konoha medic was wearing a relatively conservative dress, in comparison to the ones that Ino made her wore when they went out to bars and clubs. It was a black dress with a rounded neckline, cute cap sleeves, form-fitting waist, and a small flare that rested right above her knees. It was an appropriate dress for any semi-formal outing. There was also light make-up on her face: eyeliner that made her emerald green eyes glow brighter and gloss that made her lips shinier.

He already thought she was beautiful when she woke up with sleep in her eyes. Now, she was something else entirely. The area of his brain that controlled speech was not working. All the blood in the organ had shifted to the optic nerves and memory storage department.

"Sasori?" Sakura tilted her head slightly and the red head knew that if she acted any cuter, he was going to suffer a cardiac arrest. Luckily, she was a medic-nin.

"You look like you are going on a date," Sasori finally managed to utter a sentence.

"I told you, it's not a date!" Sakura exclaimed, "It's going out with my friends, two of which happened to be a couple! And it's a nice restaurant, so I can't go in my regular clothes."

"You never took me to a fancy restaurant," Sasori said under his breath, but she heard him clearly.

Sakura put both hands at her hip, "Are you whining right now?"

He shifted his gaze away, "What if I am?"

Sakura sighed, "I will take you to somewhere nice tomorrow! You just didn't seem like someone who likes fancy food places."

Sasori knew she was not wrong about that. He preferred local, more homely places. They were usually less crowded and had decent food at fair prices.

"Besides, Shisui was right. I haven't been spending much time with my friends lately," Sakura looked slightly guilty, "I was gone for three months and the first thing I did when I came back was throw myself into the project."

The Suna-nin did not like the guilt in her eyes, "Was it because of me?"

"No, no!" Sakura waved her hands in denial, "Of course not! I am always like this. When I started the children health department, I was a hermit in the hospital for days. I got to go now, or I will be late!"

Sakura quickly slipped on her black wedges and picked up her small shoulder purse. "See you later!" she smiled warmly and walked out of her apartment, leaving Sasori alone.

A few minutes later, after Sasori was sure that he could not sense Sakura's chakra signature anymore, he bounded out the living room window. He needed to find a certain blonde who would definitely help him stake out this "dinner" that was "not a date".

When Sakura arrived at the restaurant, she noticed that there was only one Uchiha at the entrance. He was also dressed more fashionable than usual: a clean black dress shirt and slacks. She ran up to him, the wedges causing no trouble for her agility at all.

"Itachi! Where are Izumi and Shisui?" she asked as she looked toward the direction of the Uchiha compound.

The man inwardly sighed. He knew something like this was going to happen, but he still went along with it. "Shisui said he forgot that Izumi had to leave for a mission tonight, so she can't come. Since she can't come, he said he would be guilty if he came to her favorite restaurant without her."

"Oh," Sakura blinked.

Although Itachi had seen Sakura doll up many times before, each time still made his pulse run a little faster. She was truly beautiful, but he always had difficulty complimenting her. Usually, he would agree with a small "yes" or nod when someone else around them commented on her appearance. He supposed that it was his personality that made it difficult - he was a man of few words and excessive reservation.

"I'd feel guilty too then, coming here without Izumi," Sakura said as she looked at the dimly-lit restaurant.

"Should we go elsewhere?" Itachi wanted to tell her that they should eat here anyways because she was a sight to see and he wanted to show her off, but alas, he rather comply to her wishes.

"The usual place?" Sakura grinned.

He smiled in return as he remembered the dainty shop that they used to frequent after a training session or mission together. It was their favorite place to go.

"Let's go!" Sakura cheered as she lead the way. Itachi noted that she did not link her arm in his like she usually did, causing unease in his chest. By now, he was certain that this was caused by the man who was watching him quietly from the shade of the buildings.

"He knows we are watching them," Sasori whispered to his partner in crime.

Ino huffed quietly, "Damn it. That man is insane. We are hiding our signatures, too! Must be his predator instinct!"

"What should we do now?" Sasori asked. He was an expert at gathering intel during missions, but he had never "stalked" anyone before.

"We have to abort the mission," Ino groaned, "If Itachi knows we are watching him, it's only a matter of time before he tells Sakura."

The red head watched the pair with longing eyes as they faded away from view. He knew the Yamanaka had a point, but he had never failed a mission before and he was not going to start now, even if the stake out was not an official mission. He stood up with a determined scowl, "We go to the shop."

"What?"

"You know what shop they were talking about, right? Let's beat them there. It's not like I don't have the right to eat with you at a random place in Konoha."

Ino narrowed her eyes, "But Itachi will know and Sakura would be suspicious!"

Sasori smirked as he helped the blonde stand up, "I am sure you will think of a plausible excuse."

She sighed as she began leaping through the rooftops in order to reach the shop faster than Sakura and Itachi, who were travelling on foot. "Why am I doing this?"

"Because you care about Sakura and you think I am good for her," he answered with pure honesty and confidence in his voice.

Ino rolled her eyes. For a man who was a top tier shinobi and dripping with high self-esteem, he sure was a coward when it came to admitting his feelings to the one person who mattered most. Still, she rather liked his otherwise blunt honesty - it was refreshing and it was indeed "good" for Sakura. The pinkette used to be deeply troubled by her lack of confidence and pride, and in Ino's opinion, there were still traces of those unwarranted emotions inside her. Thus, a man like Sasori, who would give praise and criticism with uncensored sincerity, would be able to nurture her.

When the pair arrived, there was no trace of Sakura and Itachi yet. Ino surprised the shopkeeper when she rushed inside, grabbed a table, and ordered something quickly. Sasori, following her que, sat down immediately and chugged half the glass of water they were given and gulped down some of the desserts that were just served. The shopkeeper gave them an odd look, but she was used to shinobis and their strange behaviors.

"Let's pretend I was just telling you the latest gossip, but you weren't really listening," Ino said as she chugged her own water.

Sasori nodded. They had just set the scene. Sakura would not know they had just arrived and they were sure the shopkeeper would not say anything.

A few minutes later, they heard Sakura's cheerful laugh and Itachi's light chuckle. Ino and Sasori continued talking about the latest hospital gossip and feigned ignorance of the couple that just entered the store.

"Sakura-chan, Itachi-kun, haven't seen you two in so long!" the shopkeeper happily greeted two of her favorite, frequent customers.

"Hello, Toru-san, table for two please!" Sakura replied happily, but she paused when she saw the two familiar figures in the back of the store, "Ino?! Sasori?!"

She walked over to their side, oblivious to the change in Itachi's expression as he scrutinized the sitting pair. He thought the red head and blonde had given up on stalking them since he did not sense their presence after they left the previous restaurant, but he was mistaken. The Suna-nin was more persistent that he had assumed.

"Oh hey! Sakura!" Ino greeted her best friend with false surprise.

Sasori lifted an eyebrow, "I thought you were going to a fancy restaurant for dinner."

Sakura shrugged, "Change of plans. Two of our friends couldn't show. Anyways, what are you two doing here?" The pinkette settled down on the empty spot beside Ino naturally, much to Itachi's distaste. However, the Uchiha kept his opinion to himself as he quietly told the shopkeeper that he and Sakura would be sitting with the pair. Then he proceeded to take the spot beside Sasori.

"Sasori-san sometimes hangs out with me when you are busy, so I suggested that we can grab a bite to eat at one of your favorite place," Ino answered without skipping a beat, "He told me he tends to like whatever you like."

"Thanks for taking care of him," Sakura beamed, "I get worried when I have to leave him alone."

"I am not a child," Sasori spoke up.

The pinkette rolled her eyes, "Lies." She reached over the table and wiped away a small piece of crumb from the corner of his mouth with her fingers.

Ino watched the interaction between the two with slight amusement. As Sakura's best friend, for the past fifteen years mind you, she was certain that the Suna-nin had nothing to worry about. Sakura was thoroughly smittened with the man and she just needed a little more push to see it. Ino also honestly could not understand how Sasori could not see how he had Sakura wrapped around his chakra strings. She assumed it was because he did not know the pinkette as well as she did and could not decipher what was considered "special" treatment.

The blonde wanted to smack her own forehead from dealing with the two fools - they were so obvious, yet so oblivious. Still, she was rather happy for the pair. They were good for each other. However, when she caught the face of the Uchiha from the corner of her eyes, her joy instantly plummeted. The ANBU captain might look impassive to most, but the little speck of jealousy and regret were not missed by the kunoichi's keen eyes. For a moment, Ino felt sympathy for the man. Back when Sakura still had a crush on Itachi, Ino had expected the man to return her feelings; but as time passed, the Uchiha took no action and Ino was more than disappointed.

"How do you like the food?" Sakura asked the red head.

"It's good," Sasori replied. He did not really know since he literally swallowed everything in one gulp, but it must not be too bad since he did not feel the need to spit.

"Itachi and I love this place," she grinned as she stole a piece of Ino's dango, making the blonde roll her eyes. The pinkette waved at the shopkeeper, "The usual please, Toru-san!"

"You got it! Sakura-chan," the woman smiled and disappeared into the small kitchen area.

Itachi suddenly spoke up, "Did we interrupt your conversation?"

Ino beat Sasori in answering, "Nah. I was just telling him some gossips I heard in the hospital, not very important."

The Uchiha's gaze turned slightly cold and Ino fought down a shiver. She did not want to be on the bad side of this man, but since she had decided to support the Suna-nin, she already lost favor with the Uchiha. She just hoped that Itachi would not catch her alone or Sasori would protect her for being his comrade. Ino eyed the Suna-nin, who poured more water into her cup. She took that as his guarantee for her safety.

The blonde looked at her best friend and wondered why did she had to go attract dangerous men who were both traumatized as child warriors. There were plenty of decent shinobis and civilians in Konoha, but no, Sakura had to find the strongest shinobis to wrap her fingers around. When Konoha was not enough, she had to go get another in Suna.

"Ino, what's wrong? You are looking at me funny," Sakura commented.

Ino mentally shook her head. It was quite unfair that the pinkette was unaware of the tension across the table. "Just thinking you look nice. But you can look nicer and we can go to a pub!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sakura replied with a roll of her eyes. It was awkward treating the guy who tried to make a move on her - but it was totally not her fault for breaking his arm when he was being inappropriate.

When Toru came over with their hot food, Sakura ceased talking and dug into her meal. Ino turned back to face Sasori and continued her mindless chatter about some of the gossips that she did hear at the hospital. Itachi joined the pinkette in eating, but his eyes never left the two stalkers. Sakura listened to the conversation as she ate, asking for details every now and then, whereas Itachi kept to himself.

The Uchiha found that he was not enjoying the gathering. Normally, when he joined Sakura and her friends, he usually had fun, despite not being able to be alone with the pinkette. However, throughout the meal, he noticed how she did not pay much attention to him like she used to. A few months ago, this would not be the case. Even though he was quiet in comparison to her friends, Sakura always somehow managed to include him in their conversations. Now, that effort seemed to be directed to the foreign-nin and Itachi comforted himself by thinking that she was just being kind since he was a guest in their village.

He looked at the man beside him. It was quite obvious what the Suna-nin wanted and it conflicted with Itachi's interest. He had welcomed the man at first and he was not lying when he confessed that he was glad that Sasori survived the war. There had always been child warriors, but few had been as young and given as much responsibility as they were when they entered the battlefield. Itachi hated conflict with passion and he did not want to start anything with Sasori, but as he looked at the kunoichi who meant so much to him, he felt himself losing grip of his pacifistic nature.

Itachi looked at Sasori and during the one small gap when Ino stopped talking, he asked, "When are you returning to Suna?"

Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly while Ino nearly choked on her spit.

"One of my clansmen who work at the hospital told me that Wataru-san is making great progress," Itachi added, in attempt to make his question seem less out of place in the conversation.

"I am not sure yet, but even at the earliest will be after Wataru-san's first reassessment appointment," Sasori answered calmly.

"I am sure the people of Suna cannot wait for your return home," the Uchiha commented

The emphasis on "home" was not lost on any of the shinobis sitting at the table.


	10. Chapter 10: Autumn Festival

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 10: Autumn Festival**

After being at the hospital for the past month, under careful observation and daily physical therapy, Wataru was finally discharged. As nurses helped him pack up his belongings, Sakura gave him a long speech about taking it easy and alerting her if anything felt off.

"It will be nice to sleep in my own bed again," Wataru smiled at Sakura.

She nodded quietly. She was happy that the chunin-sensei was going home, but the word "home" had been bothering her since the little conversation at the tea house. Since Wataru's reassessment appointment would be one week from today, that meant that Sasori would be leaving Konoha soon. She had grown accustomed to spending every day with him and the simple thought of not having him nearby left a bad feeling in the pinkette's gut. She briefly wondered if that was how he felt when she was preparing to leave Suna.

The medic sneaked a peek at the red head that was standing quietly beside her.

"Sakura-san," Wataru asked, breaking Sakura out of her thoughts, "Am I allowed to go to the Autumn Festival?"

Sakura blinked, "Autumn Festival?"

"Yes, it starts tomorrow night. For the past few times I went, I used a wheelchair or clutches. But I will be able to walk around this year!"

Sakura had completely forgotten about the Autumn Festival, due to everything that had been going on.

Every year, Konoha held this three day long event in early Autumn; hence the "Autumn" Festival. This festival was established near the time of the village's founding and there were multiple theories on why it was created. Some said it was to celebrate peace and prosperity, while others said it was to announce that the unbearingly hot summer was reaching its end. But regardless of the founding reason, all the residents of Konoha greatly enjoyed the festival. There would always be great food, fun games, unique merchandise, and to the current Hokage's joy, lots and lots of alcohol.

Sakura remembered how Team 7 would always go to the festival together. Sasuke was banned from the shooting booth since he was so good at it and always gave the owner a run for his money. Naruto would eat until he got sick, but before the festival ends, he would always catch a water yo-yo for Sakura since it was her favorite thing from the festival. As for Sakura, she loved the team photo that they would take together to commemorate the night. She kept them in chronological order in her album.

Since they became a team, they had never failed to go together, except for the year prior. Naruto had just became a sensei and his team wanted to go with him and both Sasuke and Sakura were busy with missions, so Team 7 agreed that they would make up for it this year.

Sakura tapped her chin, "The festival can be quite crowded, I would be worried if you go alone."

"What if I have a companion with me?"

"Who do you have in mind?" Sakura was not trying to pry, but she wanted to ensure that whoever accompanied Wataru was capable of assisting the man if needed.

A light blush dusted the man's cheek, causing Sakura to grin. He twirled his fingers in the same manner that Hinata did whenever Naruto was around.

"Um, Inuzuka-san," Wataru's blush intensified, "She is one of the senseis from the Academy and she asked if I would like to go with her when she came to visit me the other day."

"Ohhh," Sakura was nearly gushing. She knew there was only one Inuzuka teaching at the academy and she was a friendly and pretty kunoichi, "A date!"

Wataru's cheeks lit up in flame, "No! No! It's not like that!"

"If you say so," Sakura teased, "But yes, it's fine for you to go with her. Just avoid areas that are too crowded and take a break once in a while."

He nodded happily, "Would you and Sasori-san be attending as well?"

The pinkette turned to look at her companion, who lifted his eyebrow at her in return. Then she looked back at her patient, "I actually forgot about the festival until you reminded me. I usually go with my team, so I need to check with them first. I bet those knuckleheads forgot, too."

"I hope to see you there," Wataru grinned as he stood up from the bed. The nurses had finished sealing his belongings inside a storage scroll and they passed it to him with a polite nod.

Sakura signed off the discharge paper and passed it to one of the nurses, "Please walk him to reception for me."

The woman nodded and guided Wataru towards the door, but before he exited, he gave Sakura and Sasori a deep bow. "Thank you for everything that you have done for me, I will be eternally grateful." With that, he slowly walked out of the room, leaving the pair behind.

"Autumn Festival?" Sasori suddenly asked, jolting Sakura.

The pinkette nodded, "It's a three day event at Konoha. There are always good food, games, and things to look at. Team 7 promised to go together this year, but Sasuke and Naruto haven't said anything. I need to go talk to them."

"Am I allowed to join?" Sasori asked softly.

Sakura blinked, then a small smile formed on her face, "Do you even need to ask? Come on, let's go find my teammates. It's almost noon, my Team 7 senses are telling me that Naruto is at Ichiraku and Sasuke is at home."

The pair decided to find Naruto first since the ramen shop was much closer to the hospital. Heck, anything but the Uchiha district, was not far from the hospital. It was as if the Uchihas purposely lived the farthest away from Konoha General to prove that they were such top tier shinobis that they did not need a hospital.

As always, Sakura's instinct was right on point. Naruto was half-way through his third bowl of ramen. Teuchi was the first to notice the pinkette as she entered the store and he smiled warmly at her, "Hello, Sakura! Table for two?"

The jinchuriki's head snapped up at the mention of his teammate, causing him to choke. Sakura quickly walked to his side and smacked his back. After Naruto stopped coughing, she greeted Teuchi, "Not today. I am just here to speak with Naruto. I will come back soon!"

"Did you need me for something, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura sat down on the stool beside him while Sasori remained standing. "Wataru-san reminded me that the Autumn Festival starts tomorrow! I can't believe I forgot! So I came to -"

Before she could finish her sentence, Naruto jumped out of his seat. His brilliant blue eyes were wide as saucers, "It's tomorrow?!"

"Yeah, is something wrong?"

"Hinata asked me, well technically she was just mumbling so Kiba spoke for her, if I could accompany her. I totally forgot to get back to her about it! Since it's usually a Team 7 thing! I was going to talk with you and Sasuke first," Naruto said in one long breath.

Sakura grinned, which Sasori suspected was filled with semi-scheming intent. "You should go with Hinata! Don't worry about Sasuke and me."

"But Sakura-chan, we didn't go together last year," Naruto said quietly. He still felt guilty for choosing his genin team over his teammates, but Sasuke and Sakura really did not mind. Sasuke ended up not going at all whereas Sakura went with some of the hospital staffs on the last day.

"It's fine! Really!" Sakura was glad that Hinata finally built up the courage to invite Naruto out, albeit she needed Kiba's help. But it was a first step nonetheless! There was no way that she would ruin this wonderful opportunity for the shy Hyuga. It had been more than a decade and everyone were dying to see their relationship blossom.

The pinkette stood up, "I am actually on my way to find Sasuke right now. I will let him know you can't make it. Have fun!"

With that, Sakura gave him one tight hug, waved to Teuchi and Ayame, and nearly skipped out of the store. Sasori gave her an odd look as he followed close behind.

"I thought you were excited to go with your team. Why the sudden change? Who is Hinata?" the Suna-nin asked as they headed towards their next destination.

Sakura had a cheerful hop in her step, "Hinata Hyuga. I am sure you know she is the heiress of the Hyuga clan. She has harbored feelings for Naruto since our academy days, but she is too shy to tell him and he is too oblivious to notice!"

" _Just like us,_ " Sasori thought.

"I sure hope she confess to him at the festival. It would be so romantic!"

"Romantic?" Sasori titled his head. He was confused why a crowded and loud place such as a festival would be a romantic place for confessions.

Sakura wiggled her index finger, "When people confess, they usually move away from the crowd. The lights and noises from the festival create a nice, warm atmosphere from a distance."

"Would you like to be confessed to at the festival?" Sasori asked quietly.

The pinkette almost stopped walking as a look of terror crossed her eyes, "No! I've been confessed to at the festival and the poor man was nearly killed by Sasuke and Naruto. I don't have any evidence, but I'm sure it was them! They totally ruined the romantic atmosphere for me."

Sakura proceeded to tell him in details of how that confession went from a nice surprise to pure horror and embarrassment that she was still trying to forget. Then she moved on to her other stories that involved her admirers and the suspected intervention of her teammates. The fate of those man, civilians and shinobis alike, should be a bright and clear warning to those who dared to pursue Sakura, but Sasori was not deterred. In fact, he appreciated how her teammates kept the pinkette from being taken before he had the chance to meet her.

By the time Sakura finished her eighth story, the pair had already arrived at the main Uchiha house. Before she could knock on the door, it swung open, revealing Sasuke. He nodded at Sasori in greeting, then looked at Sakura, "I heard you down the road. You don't have proof that Naruto threw that man into the river."

Sakura crossed her arms as she stepped into the house, "I don't have proof for anything and I'm sure you have something to do with it. Naruto isn't careful enough."

A small smirk crossed Sasuke's lips before his expression went blank again. "What brings you two here?" He led them into the main sitting room and plopped down onto the tatami floor. Sakura noted that he must had been reading the stacks of scrolls on the table.

"I was reminded that the Autumn Festival starts tomorrow! So I came to ask you if we are still going together. Naruto can't come again this year, but it's because Hinata asked him to go with her."

"Hinata?" Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "Are you sure? Wouldn't she have fainted the moment she sees him or something?"

"Technically Kiba asked for her but that's minor details!" Sakura huffed. It was just like Sasuke to put a damper on things.

"I am down to go. I don't have any missions or work that would interfere this year," he looked at Sasori, "I'm assuming you are going with us?"

Just as Sasori was about to reply, a voice interrupted the group from the hallway, "Could I tag along as well?"

Sasori felt the fine hair on his arms bristle.

"Of course!" Sakura smiled happily, "The more the merrier! Let's invite Shisui and Izumi-san, too! This is going to be so much fun!"

That was how four Uchihas, a pinkette, and a red head found themselves meeting up at the main entrance of the street where the Autumn Festival was being held. All the Konoha nins were wearing their yukatas, but Sasori was in his usual gear. Sakura had offered to help him get one after they left the Uchiha household the day prior, but Sasori insisted that he did not feel comfortable in yukatas.

Izumi gave Sakura a gentle hug, "You hair is beautiful!"

Sakura blushed slightly as she subconsciously brushed her side swept bang behind her ear. The rest of her hair was twisted and knotted neatly behind her head and little purple flowers adorned the pink tresses.

When Sakura showed Sasori her pastel yukata and simple hair bun, he had demanded that she sit down and let an artist do a proper job. "Sasori did it for me."

Three pairs of onyx eyes immediately focused on the Suna-nin. One was filled with surprise, another with slight distaste, but the last pair was warm. "You are very talented, Sasori-san," Izumi smiled as she held out a hand, "I'm Uchiha Izumi by the way. That's Uchiha Shisui, we are all cousins, except Itachi and Sasuke, who are brothers as you know."

Sasori shook her hand politely, "Thank you. Nice to meet you."

"Can we go now?" Sasuke, who had been staring at one of the food stalls since they had arrived, said"I'm hungry."

Sakura nodded, "Me too! Let's go! We might see Hinata and Naruto! And Wataru-san, too!" With that, she linked her arm with Sasuke's and led the group into the busy street. Izumi and Shisui held hands as they followed right behind whereas Itachi and Sasori kept a respectable distance between each other. The Uchiha couple had felt the tension rising between them and were trying to stay within a safe zone near Sakura.

After an hour or two, both Sasuke and Sakura had had their fill of food. Just as the group neared the game booth area, Izumi saw some of her friends outside of the clan and had politely left, with Shisui in tow, to speak with them. She promised to return before the night was over. Thus, only the other four were left.

As Sakura waved goodbye to the pair, she saw something through the corner of her eyes.

"Are there any games that you would like to play?" Itachi asked the pinkette, after noticing her gaze was directed at one of the game booths.

"Water yo-yo," Sakura answered, "Naruto get me one every year. Last year, one of the junior medics got me one."

"I'll get it for you," both Itachi and Sasori said in unison, causing Sasuke to lift an eyebrow.

"Thanks!" Sakura beamed, completely unaware of the new level that the tension had reached. "Let's go!"

The various array of bright colors nearly overwhelmed Sasori when they reached the booth. There were no festivals such as this one back in Suna and there definitely was not enough water laying around for people to conjure up a toy such as the water yo-yo.

The old man manning the booth grinned when he noticed the pink hair of one of his regular customers. "Sakura-chan, long time no see! Who is your new knight this year? I don't see Naruto-kun or that other medic from last year."

"I have two this year," Sakura winked as she gestured towards Itachi and Sasori. The man laughed as he held out two hooks towards the ANBUs. Both men had mentally declared that he would get a yo-yo before the other.

Sasuke held his hand out, asking for a hook, "Make it three." The younger Uchiha, unlike Sakura, had felt the spike in tension a moment ago, and decided that it was time to shut both grown men down.

Sakura blinked at her teammate, then laughed as he crouched down in front of the tub of water yo-yo. Itachi and Sasori hesitated for brief moment, made eye contact, then followed suit. The medic picked up a light conversation with the booth owner while the three shinobis hunted down their respective yo-yos.

Almost in unison, all three lifted their hooks and pulled out a yo-yo. Sakura gasped, "Wow! Good job!"

The owner grinned, "Which one is your favorite, Sakura-chan?"

The pinkette looked at each of the yo-yos. Itachi was holding a pink one with swirls of various greens, Sasori had a violet one with pink and white flowers, and Sasuke had an orange one with splashes of blue and yellow. Sakura smiled happily as she reached out and took the one in Sasuke's hands.

"This one is my favorite," she hugged him, "Thank you, Sasuke!"

Sasori and Itachi both narrowed their eyes, but Sasuke ignored them. "You are welcomed," he said softly to Sakura.

"Would you like mine as well?" Itachi asked as he held out his yo-yo.

Sakura was reaching out to take the water balloon from his hand when she noticed two young girls next to her staring at the yo-yo. She smiled and bend towards them, "Do you want it?"

The child who was obviously older nodded as the other girl partially hid behind her. "Can we have it?"

Sakura nodded and looked at Itachi, who gave her a small smile before he turned towards the children and semi-knelt to their eye level. He held out the water yo-yo and the girl took it with both hands and a grateful thank you. Then she turned towards the other, who Sakura assumed was her younger sister, and put the toy in her hands.

"Say thank you," she guided.

"Thank… thank you," the little girl said quietly.

As Itachi stood back up to his full height, he felt Sasori crouch down beside him. The red head held out his own conquest towards the older girl. His face was blank, but the small gesture was enough explanation for the girl. She grinned and grabbed the yo-yo.

"Thank you so much!"

The pinkette had a warm smile on her face as she waved goodbye to the girls, who skipped away hand in hand. She smiled at her ANBUs, "That was very sweet of you two."

"Do you want to play another game?" Sasuke asked offhandedly, before the other men could make the atmosphere awkward.

Sakura looked around and a ring toss stand caught her eye. She pointed at it and Itachi's lips lifted slightly, but it did not escape Sasuke's eyes. However, before the younger Uchiha could speak up, Itachi had already steered Sakura towards the booth.

"Sakura, let's have a contest. If I win, can I have a favor from you?" Itachi asked politely as Sasori tensed.

"Sure! And vice versa, right?" the pinkette grinned. She rather enjoyed ring toss and she always gave Naruto a run for his money whenever they played. There was no way she would lose. That favor might as well be in her bag already.

Sasuke groaned as his older brother paid for their rings while he and Sasori stood behind them.

Sasori, who noticed Sasuke's slight distress, asked, "Is something the matter?"

"Itachi is really good at ring toss," Sasuke sighed, "Sakura just got hustled."


	11. Chapter 11: Her Story

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 11: Her Story**

Sakura's shoulders slumped in defeat, even though she was now the lucky owner of the dainty aquamarine hair pin that was only awarded to a perfect score on the ring toss game. She was happy that she got the beautiful hair accessory, but sadly, it was not she who won it.

"Thank you for the gift," she said, albeit grumpily, to Itachi, who was looking at her with a gentle smile.

"It was my pleasure, now about my favor," Itachi leaned in towards the pinkette and whispered, "Can we take a walk to the lake? Without my little brother and your guest?"

Sakura would have been nervous if it was anyone else who asked to take a stroll to the lake, during the Autumn Festival, because that was one of the prime locations for confession. However, since it was Itachi, she doubted that it was that. She was rather certained that he simply wanted to spend some time catching up, since they were not able to do so in a long while.

"Sure," she nodded. Then she turned to Sasuke and Sasori, who were both curious about the older Uchiha's request. "Itachi and I are going to the lake for the favor that he got. Sasuke, I trust that you can take care of Sasori while we are gone?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows while Sasori had a small scowl on his face.

"We will be back shortly," Itachi said in a no nonsense tone. He placed one hand on Sakura's back and slowly guided her away.

The pinkette waved at her teammate and ward, then returned her attention towards Itachi. The pair conversed quietly as they disappeared into the crowd.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Well, that was anything but subtle. What do you want to do, Sasori-san?"

Sasori's eyes did not leave the direction where his favorite medic had vanished with his most formidden rival.

Sasuke looked at the red head's forlorn expression and let out a long sigh. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I honestly don't care if Sakura ends up with my brother or with you."

This caught the Suna-nin's attention and he shifted his honey orbs towards the younger man.

"As long as Sakura is happy, that's all that really matters. Naruto and I always have to chase away those guys who are not worthy of her, because we know she is too kind to do it herself. But that only leads to false hope and worst consequences later on."

Dark onyx glared into warm honey and Sasori was reminded of how eerily beautiful all Uchihas' eyes were.

"If someone hurts our teammate, Naruto and I will retaliate. Doesn't matter if it's my own brother or a ninja from a different village."

A brief silence passed between them until Sasori finally spoke up, "Can we go back to the area where they sold trinkets? There was something that I wanted."

While Sasuke lead Sasori back into the crowded streets, Itachi guided Sakura towards the quiet lake. Their walk was slow and leisurely. A comfortable silence enveloped the pair as they strolled towards the lake by the Uchiha compound. Itachi was glad that there was no one nearby.

Sakura giggled when a piece of leaf fell onto Itachi's hair and she reached out with her free hand to brush it off. He smiled at her briefly before releasing her arm and beckoning her to sit with him on the deck that extended over the lake.

"I feel like you hustled me," Sakura said with a small grin.

Itachi shook his head playfully, "I never said I was bad at the game. You were too confident."

"Ah, and I thought I put that behind me when I nearly died during that first chunin exam," she laughed, "guess I still have much training to do."

A gentle silence passed between them. Dark onyx stared at viridian green as a light warm breeze whistled by. Sakura could see an endless depth of something special gleaming in Itachi's eyes. For a moment, she wondered if it was a reflection of her feelings or it it was his own hidden emotions rising to the surface.

Sakura blinked, breaking the moment. She stared at the moon's dancing reflection. "Did you want to talk about something?"

Itachi did not look away from her face, but the kunoichi feigned ignorance. "What made you think that?"

"I just know," Sakura reached out and splashed the cool water with one hand. A small spark of chakra sent a small ripple towards the moon's reflection.

The Uchiha took a long, deep breath. "Remember the first thing you asked me when I told you that I was going to be the next Hokage?"

"Of course," Sakura did not look at him, "I asked, 'What about your clan?'"

"Now you know Sasuke will take care of the clan."

Sakura finally faced him as she nodded; she was confused at where he was going with the conversation.

"That means I will no longer be responsible for the clan as its leader. I am a free man," he stared into her eyes. His dark irises diving into her soul.

She could not breathe for a moment, but it was not a refreshing sense of breathlessness. Something in the back of her mind made her nervous and a wave of foreboding washed over her. Something was screaming for her to get away - to run - before someone got hurt.

Sakura swallowed heavily, "I am happy for you. With everything that you did for your clan and for Konoha, you deserve to be free."

"I want to share that freedom with you," he said calmly. He had saw the apprehension wavering in her eyes and his usual confidence dampered. But a small part of him did not want to give up on the small chance that she would reciprocate his affections.

The medic tried to side step the question behind his statement in the same way that she had seen him do many times, "I will be given a lot of responsibilities at the hospital once Tsunade-shishou retires, so I will definitely be there for you."

Itachi did not like what she just did. He shook his head firmly, "I don't mean as a comrade. I meant as my other half, Sakura."

The way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine.

He held one of her hands and a small static shot up her arm. "I know you once held affections for me and I would have returned them if not for the clan. I have no doubt that you could have handled it yourself, but you know how some of the clan members could be. That was why I took matters into my hands."

Itachi knew Sakura and she was a kunoichi with a big heart. Often, she placed her family, her friends, and her village above her own needs. It was selfish of him to use that to his advantage when it came to matters of the heart, but he did not want to lose her. "We can take care of Konoha together."

Sakura swallowed heavily. The way that he was looking at her was not much different than usual, but his deepest affection was no longer suppressed - he was showing her everything - and it was taking her breath away. The fluttering that she had long chased away came back. It was a weak sensation, but it was a heart skipping sensation nonetheless.

But something - that something that told her to run earlier was back. It squashed down the rising butterflies with no hesitation.

The pinkette drew away and the ANBU let her.

"You know I am a patient man, Sakura," Itachi smiled softly, "take your time and think. Let me know when you are ready."

He brushed her loose bangs behind her ear and it was obvious to them both that his fingers lingered along her cheek.

"We should go back," Sakura said quietly, "They have been waiting for a while."

Itachi nodded and helped Sakura stand up. He held out his arm and after a brief moment of hesitation, she linked hers with him. "I promise I will let you know soon."

"There is no rush."

Both Sasuke and Sasori immediately noticed the change in the atmosphere when they reunited with the older Uchiha and the pinkette, but they kept the observation to themselves. Sasuke decided that he would watch over his teammate quietly while Sasori knew he would find out exactly what happened when they get home.

"Have Shisui and Izumi-san returned yet?" Sakura asked Sasuke with a light smile.

"They came back earlier, but Shisui had a bit too much to drink after they bumped into Genma. Izumi took him home," Sasuke answered.

"It is getting pretty late, maybe we should leave, too," the medic said as she looked at the dark sky.

Sasuke nodded and looked at Itachi, who was looking at Sakura with a strange gleam in his eyes. "Let's go, brother."

Itachi finally tore his eyes away from the pinkette. He nodded at Sasuke, then turned back to Sasori and Sakura, "Good night, Sakura, Sasori-san."

The medic waved goodbye as the Uchiha brothers disappeared towards the direction of the Uchiha compound. She looked at the Suna-nin who smiled at her and they began walking toward the civilian residential district.

The walk was rather quiet. The pinkette was still thinking about Itachi's confession while Sasori was glaring at the new hair pin that made its way into the bun that he had crafted earlier that evening. When they entered the apartment, the Suna-nin immediately reached for Sakura's hair and in one smooth motion, undid all the twists and removed the purple flowers and the bothersome hair pin.

Sakura gave him a confused look.

"Can I know what happened?" Sasori asked lightly, "You didn't seem like yourself when you came back."

Sakura loosened the sash around her waist and sat down on the couch. Sasori plopped down by her side and set all the hair accessories on the coffee table.

"It's a rather long story," she said and smiled bitterly at how that statement felt so familiar.

Remembering the same conversation that she thought of, Sasori smiled warmly, "For you, Sakura, I have all the time in the world." He parroted the same reply.

That was how Sakura began the full, detailed version of her story - of her first love that she knew - _thought_ \- would not bear fruit.

After becoming Tsunade's pupil, Sakura was slowly discovering herself. She rekindled her friendship with Ino, got over her measly crush on Sasuke, and was even the first to become a chunin in Team 7. She had many people to thank and one of them was Uchiha Itachi.

When she first got to know him, the real him, was during the Uchiha gathering. She was rather tired of all the festivities, since she had a busy morning at the hospital. When she saw the heir sitting by himself, she honestly just wanted to rest and compliment him for being a compliant patient. But as their conversation went on, she realized how similar they were.

Then came the genjutsu lessons, in which he helped her unleash her potential as a kunoichi with the affinity for genjutsus. Next came her first S-ranked mission. At this point, both Sasuke and Naruto, despite both ranking in at chunins like her, had been on one or two S-ranked missions. They worried that she would get hurt, but Itachi was adamant that she joined his team for a special mission that required her skill. Needless to say, the mission was successful and Sakura was one step closer in getting the promotion for jounin.

Not long after was her first solo A-ranked mission to Iwa and the revelation of her feelings. She still acted relatively normal towards him, since she did not want things to become awkward. But deep down, and with Ino's encouragement, Sakura felt that Itachi would return her affections one day. She just needed to get stronger so she could stand as his equal.

However, everything changed when she met the Uchiha kunoichi, whom she recalled was named Chuya. The kunoichi was also a chunin like her and around the same age. She was on a B-ranked mission with a team and got a fairly nasty cut on her shoulder from an enemy's katana. Sakura was asked by some of the nurses to heal the kunoichi since she demanded that whoever healed her did not leave a scar and there was no medic better than Sakura at fixing a major wound seamlessly.

When Sakura was healing her, the kunoichi realized the pinkette was on the same team as one of her cousins and began to make small talks. Sakura was fairly certain that many things she said were exaggerated since she could feel the girl radiating fan-girl aura like she once did when she was a genin. She supposed that the Uchiha kunoichi just had not grown out of that phase yet.

But when she began to talk on and on about Uchiha Itachi and how she had the best possibility of becoming his wife, Sakura felt her heart plummet to the bottom of her stomach. She knew Itachi and how much he loved his clan. His clansmen would always be his number one priority, which meant that he had most likely prepared himself to marry one of the many Uchiha kunoichis that fawned over him. That realization stung, so Sakura quickly finished her work and excused herself to sob in her office.

It took much effort for her to pull back from falling further for the Uchiha and he did not help by always being so kind and caring, and encouraging her whenever she was down. When she learned that he was one of the shinobis who recommended her for her application to become a jounin, she nearly went mad. This man was not good for her heart nor her sanity.

Sakura tried to move on and she even took Ino's advice to date other men. But most of them either did not show up for their date or went missing shortly after one date. She suspected that Naruto and Sasuke were to blame, but there was never any proof. In the end, she gave up.

Her busy life was enough to keep her occupied and she slowly accepted that being one of Itachi's closest friends was all she really could be. She was thankful for that.

She was eighteen when she thought she had completely freed herself and the last two, almost three, years had been relatively eventless. There was one incident when hope did resurface, it was when he told Naruto and herself that he was to become the next Hokage and Sasuke was to become the next patriarch of the clan. Her question had slipped out of her mouth before she could consider what it implied. There was something sparkling in his eyes when he answered her, but there was no time to ask him about it since Naruto threw a mini tantrum.

After that, they did not have much time to meet due to all the peace and treaty meetings, and her curiosity faded to the back of her mind. Less than a month later, she was assigned the three month exchange mission to Suna. With the mission taking priority in her mind, Sakura put much of Konoha - including _him_ \- behind her.

But now, a mere few months, not even half a year later, Itachi decided that it was time to confess the truth. To tell Sakura that he actually did reciprocate her feelings, but could not act until he settled things with his clan.

Sasori's heart hurted as he listened, but he kept a straight face. "So… are you saying that you don't love him anymore? Or are you saying that you do love him?"

Sakura blinked, "I… I am confused."

"Why is that?" there was nothing but sincerity in the honey eyes that were staring right at her - only at her.

"I… I don't know," Sakura tried to laugh, albeit awkwardly, "that's why I am confused!" She did not have the courage to tell Sasori that perhaps the _something_ that told her to run away was her growing attachment to someone with a pretty face and red hair.

Sasori looked at Sakura quietly. He did not know whether her confusion was a good thing or a bad thing. Plus, he sensed that the pinkette was hiding something from him, but before he could speak, Sakura suddenly asked, "Have you ever been confused with your feelings, Sasori?"

The Suna-nin gave an incredulous look to the kunoichi.

Sakura puffed up her cheeks in a small pout, "Hey! Just because you are known as a cold-hearted ANBU in Suna doesn't mean you are incapable of having feelings for someone!"

A small voice in the back of Sasori's mind was telling him to grasp the opportunity and confess to the kunoichi, but her eyes, gleaming with curiosity, were making it difficult for him to breathe. Cold sweat was slowly trickling down his palms and the moment his left eye made an almost undetectable twitch, Sakura's eyes widen, causing Sasori to panic.

"I have never been confused with my feelings once I recognized what they were," he finally bit out. The memory of discovering his feelings, under the guidance of Maki, suddenly became vivid in his mind.

Sakura blinked.

Originally, she only intended to tease him. From what she knew of Sasori, she did not expect him to "like" anyone. He never mentioned anything and she never met anyone that seemed special back in Suna.

"That person must be very lucky to have your affections," the pinkette said softly.

A quiet moment passed between them as Sasori debated with his inner self whether he should confess then and there, but before his courage fully charged up, Sakura gathered all the hair accessories on the table and stood up. "It's getting late, we should turn in. Thank you for listening to me, Sasori."

Sasori blinked numbly as he watched his chance slip away, but he quickly snapped back to earth. "'Good night, Sakura."

 **Hello all! Sorry for the wait! I was rather busy this past month. I think this story will wrap up fairly soon. Thank you for being with me all this time! I plan to finish before the end of next month!**


	12. Chapter 12: Insecurities

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 12: Insecurities**

Sasori shot out of bed as the first ray of sun grazed past his closed eyelids. He had been restless the entire night, with Sakura's words plaguing his mind. It took him half the night to realize that perhaps Sakura not accepting Itachi right away was a sign that he had a place in her heart. Then it took him the second half of the night to realize that Sakura seemed slightly upset when she commented on how fortunate the person whom he cherished was, which was also a sign that perhaps she thought of him as more than a friend.

All the "maybes" and "perhaps" were driving Sasori insane, or more insane than he already was, and he desperately needed to talk to the woman who held his heart in her dainty palms.

The Suna-nin flew out of bed and slipped on the first set of clothes that he saw. Then he rushed into the living room, only to realize that the apartment was rather quiet and Sakura's chakra signature was not present. A small piece of paper on the coffee table caught his eye and he picked it up with his chakra threads.

It was a note that Sakura had written with neat handwriting. It said that she woke up rather early and could not fall back asleep, and so had decided to swing by the emergency ward to help out. She asked Sasori to come by once he sees the note and they could get food before their weekly meeting with Tsunade.

Without further ado, he tossed the note into the trash bin and put on his shoes. He had to see Sakura as soon as possible.

Just before he opened the front door, the empty flower vase above the shoe rack gave him pause. Sasori smiled to himself softly. Perhaps the pinkette would appreciate flowers. From what Maki and Ino told him, he learned that flowers often increase the success rate of confessions.

Thus, Sasori decided to swing by the Yamanaka Flower Shop before going to the hospital. When he neared the shop, he noticed a familiar dark haired woman waving to Ino, who was setting up the outside of the store, and he instinctively hid his chakra signature. He pretended to window shop an antique store's display as he focused his senses to eavesdrop.

"Good morning Izumi-san!" Ino greeted cheerfully. She did not know Uchiha Izumi well, but from how much Sakura admired the kunoichi, Ino knew that she was a good person.

"Good morning Ino-san," Izumi smiled back, "Helping out today?"

"Yes, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to buy some flowers for my mother, but I was also hoping to run into you."

Ino wiped her hands on her apron, "Run into me?"

"You are Sakura-chan's best friend, so I wanted to ask you something."

Ino's eyes sparkled, "Are we gossiping?"

The Uchiha laughed, "If you want to think of it that way. It's just that I worry for Itachi-kun."

"Huh?"

Izumi smiled weakly, "I met Sasori-san for the first time last night and it was rather obvious to me that he liked Sakura-chan. But as an Uchiha myself, I support my dear cousin. So I wanted to ask you if Sakura-chan has feelings for Sasori-san."

The blonde blinked slowly, then scratched her head, "Honestly, I think he is special to her."

"Special?" Izumi tilted her head slightly.

"Yes. It is very clear to me that he is special to her, but I think she isn't even aware of it."

"Do you think Sakura-chan would be happy with him? I care about Sakura-chan and I want her to be happy. I know that Itachi-kun can make her happy. Our whole clan can make her happy. I worry that if she does fall in love with Sasori-san, she would be torn between our two villages," The Uchiha confessed quietly.

Sasori could not listen anymore, he clenched his fists and swiftly walked away. He did not need the flowers because he knew that no matter what, his would be confession was doomed for failure.

Ino patted Izumi's shoulder, "We all love Sakura. I know that she will do everything in her power to protect our villages from going into war again. Besides, even if she leaves Konoha, I know she will come back and visit."

Izumi smiled, "You are right."

Sakura glanced at the clock worriedly. There was only ten minutes left before she and Sasori had to report to Tsunade and the red head was nowhere in sight. Sasori was never late, so she was beginning to think that he got ambushed or something like that. However, right as she headed out of the emergency ward to look for him, she found him approaching from the streets.

The pinkette sighed in relief, "I was starting to worry about you! I guess we don't have time for food before the meeting."

Sasori nodded quietly, "Sorry, I saw your note too late."

Sakura blinked, "That's okay, but are you alright? You seem different. Did you get indigestion from last night's food?"

"I am fine," Sasori forced out a weak smile. It was not fair of him to make her worry when she did nothing wrong.

She patted his shoulder gently, "Alright, but let me know if you don't feel well."

Sasori nodded again as he followed Sakura towards the Hokage Tower. He noticed that she seemed as energetic as usual as she talked about the people she helped earlier that morning.

Not once did she mentioned what had happened last night - until they reached the base of the tower. "Um, I need to go talk with Ino after our report, so I will not be waiting for you today. Wait for me at the apartment?"

Sasori could only dip his head in response.

When they arrived at Tsunade's office, Sakura went straight to business.

"Wataru-sensei is doing very well with his prosthetic limb. I have discharged him from the hospital, but he is still required to attend follow-up sessions to ensure that everything is going well. I have already instructed some higher rank medics on what I expect to be done during a follow-up sessions so that we have more personnel to handle these sessions once we put this 'Puppet Limb Project' into full operation. There are also obvious differences between immediate limb attachment and delayed limb attachment and I am working on recording these data with detailed information."

Tsunade nodded, "Very good."

"As of now, I have made very simple puppet parts for both patients. I believe making these prosthetic limbs would not be difficult for any top tier puppeteers. However, my special prepping jutsus are known only to me. I will teach my grandmother these jutsus, but I must discuss with the Kazekage before I teach anyone else," Sasori added.

The blonde nodded again, "That's understandable. Thank you for the clear report. I expect to see everything in writing prior to letting this project become fully operational."

Both Sakura and Sasori nodded in unison.

"You are dismissed, Sakura."

Tsunade smiled warmly as her pupil exited her office, leaving the Suna-nin and her alone for his side mission report. She did not miss how the red head kept his eyes on the medic until she had fully closed the door.

"I suppose Sakura is just waiting outside the door for you?" Tsunade teased Sasori, who finally turned his attention back to her.

Everytime Sasori reported to the Hokage regarding his side mission, Sakura usually waited right outside the office. After he finished, they would go get something to eat together. The blonde thought it was the cutest thing ever, thus, she still could not believe the red head had not made much progress with pursuing Sakura. She had questioned him numerous times whether them hanging out together were considered dates and to her frustration, he always answered "no".

For the first time, Sasori shook his head. "She said she had to go speak with Ino-san, so she is not waiting for me today."

"Oh." For some reason, his answer did not sit well with Tsunade. "I am assuming that means you actually have something of value to report today then. Unlike your usual lack of progress."

Sasori nodded blankly, ignoring the small jab at his inadequacy in pursuing the pinkette.

"Uchiha Itachi confessed to Sakura last night during the festival," he said quietly as Tsunade's eyes widen in surprise.

"And?" the Hokage pressed on when Sasori took a long pause.

"Sakura told me everything about Itachi and her; from when they first became friends up to last night. She said she was confused and she doesn't know why."

Tsunade did not miss how the red head's eyes wavered for a brief moment.

Sasori tightened his fists and quickly relaxed them. "I think I have failed my mission, Hokage-sama."

"What-"

"As we reported earlier, Wataru-san was discharged and his first reassessment session will take place within the week. After the reassessment session, I will have to return to Suna to report to the Kazekage. I have failed my mission."

The lack of expressions on Sasori's face was slowly ticking off Tsunade. She slammed her hand down on the table, sending papers flying, "Are you really a top tier ANBU from Suna? Or just a coward who gives up easily? From your reports, I know you don't even have the guts to confess. How do you expect her to return your affections if she doesn't even know you like her?!"

A small frown found its way onto his face, "Hokage-sama, you don't know how many times I had tried to tell her, but everything around us - everything revolving around her - reminded me of how important Sakura is to Konoha. Everyone in this village loves her and she loves them back. Lately, I realized that maybe I was a fool to chase after the flower of Konoha."

Sasori stared down at his palms. Even though he tried his best to deny it, his brain had told him numerous times that perhaps he and Sakura were not meant to be.

She was a Konoha kunoichi - their prized medic-nin who worked miracles. She had friends and family who would sacrifice their own lives for hers. Heck, she was the pupil of their very own Hokage. Whereas he was a Suna shinobi, the right hand man of the Kazekage. His life mattered to the people of Suna, even if they feared him. Heck, if something was to happen to the Third, everyone knew he would be next in line to lead their village.

Perhaps, they really were not meant to be.

Another slap to the table broke him from his trance.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "You are just making excuses."

"Hokage-sama," Sasori's tone was dead serious, "You can't deny that Sakura is important to Konoha."

"And your point is?" her tone was challenging him to make one, just one, irrefutable reason.

"Konoha can't lose her. She is irreplaceable," he answered without hesitation.

Tsunade growled, "First of all, Sasori, not a single shinobi in Konoha is replaceable. I don't care how other villages work, but every shinobi in Konoha is important. But that's not the point here! The point is that you are a coward! You are scared that she will choose the village over you."

Sasori did not reply.

"You know what? I was mistaken about you. If this is who you really are, then I don't think you deserve my precious pupil at all," Tsunade said tiredly, "I will write a letter to your Kage regarding the failure of this mission. Report to me one last time after the final report with Sakura. You are dismissed."

The blonde did not bat an eyelid as the Suna-nin politely retreated out of her office. She glanced out her window and sighed wistfully. Honestly, she had everything planned out so that Sakura could be with Sasori in Suna without abandoning her status as a Konoha kunoichi. She truly liked the man and all that he could be for her precious pupil. But it was as she had lectured him a moment ago, if he could not spit out those three simple words to Sakura, then he did not deserve her.

There was a look of pure murder intent on Sasori's face as he walked down the Hokage tower, causing all the shinobis in the hallway to walk around him at a safe distance. However, he did not miss how a few of the foolishly brave shinobis whispering that they would be glad when he leaves because Sakura would be free from taking care of him.

Sasori mentally hissed. He knew he was a coward. He knew he was making excuses. But he just could not understand why he was afraid. Heck, he dove right into battle when he was just a child and there was not a speck of fear in his bones. Perhaps it was because when he fought, it was either destroy the enemy or die trying. But confessing his undying love to Sakura was a whole different story. This kunoichi who had him wrapped around her fingers, was confused because she was confessed to by a man whom she once - maybe still - loved, and if she chose that man over Sasori himself, Sasori knew his heart and soul would break.

And it would be as he said during that first conversation that he had with the Uchiha, a broken mind would be difficult to heal. In his case, it might never heal because it was already so fragile from all the times that it was broken and mended.

He laughed bitterly as he flexed his fingers, "The first mission that I had ever failed and it was one of the few that truly mattered."

When he returned to Sakura's apartment, the pinkette was nowhere to be found. Sasori sighed tiredly as he sat down on the couch. As he sank deep into the plush, Sakura's neatly arranged photo albums caught his eyes and a steady chakra string shot out from his finger tip and pulled the closest album towards him.

He flipped open the album to the first page and the very first photo nearly caused him to slam the memento shut. Staring at him, as if it was mocking him, was a photo of Sakura using a kotatsu with Itachi. The pinkette's cheeks were flushed and her eyes were closed from laughing while Itachi's eyes had a gentle gleam as he looked at her.

Sasori looked away from the photo and forced himself to gently close the album. Just as he slid it back into its slot on the bookshelf, he heard the door unlock.

In came Sakura with a take-out bag that smelled strongly of teriyaki sauce and rice. A bright smile crossed her face when she caught sight of Sasori. She quickly set the bag down in the kitchen and walked over to the Suna-nin. "I was hoping to beat you back. Lucky I caught you before you made yourself lunch!"

A small smile snuck onto Sasori's face. It seemed that he was slowly losing control over his expressions when he was in Sakura's presence.

"I thought you were going to see Ino," Sasori said, "I assumed you would be gone for a while."

Sakura nodded as she beckoned Sasori to sit at the dinner table, "I was, but I ran into someone and ended up not visiting her at all."

He sat down as she took a bento and chopsticks out from the bag and set them neatly in front of him. Sasori gave her a questioning glance as she settled across from him with only a glass of water.

"It's just for you. I already ate," she chugged her water in one gulp, "I ran into Itachi who insisted on buying me lunch. That was why I didn't have time to see Ino."

Sasori's mood immediately soured, but Sakura confused it as his distaste for the food that she bought him. She reached out and to her surprise, he jerked out of her reach.

Ember eyes narrowed, "Was it a nice date?"

"It's not a date!" Sakura protested, feeling too embarrassed to catch the icy undertone in the man's voice.

"But you know that he likes you and you still let him buy you lunch. How is that not a date?" Sasori bit into his teriyaki salmon rather harshly.

The pinkette huffed and crossed her arms, "First of all, I tried to tell him I had something to do, but since it was so rare for him to have time for lunch, I decided to go with him. Second, he did not pay for me! I paid for myself since I wanted to get take-out for you!"

Sasori chewed his rice just as roughly as he had with his meat. "You are trying to see if you want to return his feelings, that's why you agreed to go."

"What? That's not -"

"He is a good man, strong shinobi, and future Hokage of your village. You used to _like_ him. There is no reason why you should be confused."

"What are you -"

"You should accept his feelings. I am sure all of Konoha would celebrate your union," Sasori finished speaking as he dug into his meat once more.

Sakura stared at the man in front of her incredulously. That was the first time that Sasori had ever interrupted her, had ever accused her, and had ever taken away her chance to defend herself. She did not recognize the man sitting across from her. He was not the patient and fair friend that she knew. It was as if something bitter had taken over him.

"What is up with you?" she asked softly.

"Nothing, just stating the obvious."

The lack of expression on his face and the boredom lacing his voice felt like a splash of freezing cold water to Sakura. She desperately wanted to tell Sasori that he was wrong.

She only went with Itachi because she wanted to reject his confession and it was better to rip the bandage off fast, instead of letting it hang on with false hope. It was true that she was confused at first, but after a restless night of thinking, she finally realized that she was confused because a different man held her heart - and a small, hopeful part of her mind told her that perhaps it was her whom he cared for.

She was building her courage to confess later that night, but his words were telling her to stop. He was telling her to accept a different man, which meant that she was wrong - he did not see her in the same light that she saw him.

The pinkette clenched her fists, but Sasori was too busy tearing his meal apart to notice. Sakura forced out a smile, "You are right. Itachi is a wonderful person, I would be a total fool to reject him."

Sasori nodded without looking at her.

Feeling defeated, Sakura got up from her seat, "I almost forgot that I was asked to cover a shift at the hospital today, I have to go now. I will see you later."

With that said, the medic swiftly slipped on her sandals and promptly left Sasori alone in the apartment with his shredded, beyond edible, meal.

After a long moment of doing nothing but staring at his destroyed lunch, Sasori finally stood up and toss the bento into the trash. Sighing in defeat, he also left the apartment. He was not hungry anymore and some fresh air would do him some good.

As if fate wanted him to suffer that day, when he stopped for a brief moment to look inside a bookstore that Sakura had pointed out before, he was stopped by none other than Uchiha Itachi. The red head narrowed his eyes at the taller shinobi, forcibly hiding his bitterness towards him. But when he saw the glint of sadness in the endless onyx depth, Sasori's eyebrow lifted slightly in confusion.

"Take care of her," Itachi said quietly.

Sasori titled his head, "What do you mean?"

It was Itachi's turn to be puzzled. "I meant Sakura. We might not have fought in the battlefield, but I admit defeat in pursuing her."

The red head did not speak. He continued to stare at the Uchiha blankly.

At that instance, they both knew... Sasori messed up.

 **Hello! First of all, sorry for the wait! I recently started school again and did not have time! I will finish this story, but updates will not be fast... But as you can probably guess, the story is probably going to wrap up in the next chapter or two. Thank you for being with me all this time.**


	13. Chapter 13: Dusty

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 13: Dusty**

Sasori stared at the Uchiha with wide eyes. The expression on his face was something that Itachi never expected to see a seasoned ANBU elite display.

As if answering the unspoken questions, the Uchiha explained, "She told me she was sorry. But I am the one who is sorry. I wanted to blame you, but it is no one's fault but my own. I had so many chances to grasp her vitality, her spirit, but I didn't do it. I chose to wait and I failed to see that she would meet others who would become more precious to her."

For a man who took pride in his visual prowess, he sure was blind - Itachi could not see that Sakura would not wait for him forever.

Sasori's eyes widen even more as Itachi's words slowly sank in. "She rejected you?"

"Yes," Itachi confirmed, "And I am sure you know why."

Sasori's blinked slowly as he finally realized the truth. In an instance, he whipped around and dashed toward the hospital. He knew he made a horrible mistake and he probably had to beg on his knees for the blossom to forgive him.

When he arrived, he immediately went to the front reception. His sudden appearance startled the nurse into dropping her clipboard. She had only ever seen the Suna-nin with Sakura-sensei and he seemed rather decent then, but she had heard rumors that he could be rather intimidating when he was by himself.

She swallowed heavily, "How can I help you, Sasori-san?"

"Where is Sakura?" he asked. A slight tremble in his voice betrayed his otherwise calm facade.

At that moment, the nurse could not see the infamous Suna-nin that the circulating gossips portrayed - all she saw was a man - a man who acted like her husband when he knew he did something to offend her and was desperate for forgiveness.

"I am afraid that she is not in right now," she replied politely.

"But she said she had a shift."

"You should check training ground seven," a voice suddenly said from behind him.

Sasori turned and saw a Konoha-nin whom he had never met.

"'I overheard you are looking for Sakura-san. My team just came back from a mission and we felt some small earthquakes when we neared the gates."

"Oh dear," the nurse covered her mouth with her hands in an exaggerated gasp, "Sakura-sensei must be very upset right now."

The Konoha-nin nodded in agreement, "Lucky for whoever pissed her off that she is taking her anger out on the training ground. Or they'd be nothing but a bag of boney bits."

He and the nurse both shivered at the memories that were better left forgotten.

"Where is this training ground?" Sasori asked the nin. He was willing to take his chances.

"It's the one furthest from town and closests to the gates. It's northwest from here and you should be able to get there pretty easily."

Sasori dipped his head, "Thank you," and left as quickly as he came.

"What was that about?" the nin asked the nurse who started smiling to herself.

"Young love," she winked, "Young love."

The red head leapt on the side of the hospital, ignoring the odd glances he received. When he reached the top, he turned to the direction that the nin had said and noticed a faint cloud of dust in the distance. Sasori ran, as fast as he did when he first dispatched from Suna to Konoha. Only this kunoichi could make him want to run until he gasped for air.

Sakura screamed as she uprooted another tree and flung it into another tree, snapping both in half. Sweat trailed down her forehead and dripped off her chin. A wild fire was burning in her eyes and the loose strands from her ponytail were in utter disarray. Dirt covered her entire body, turning the usual red into an ashen brown. A few cuts lined her arms, but they immediately vanished under a green glow.

"Sakura-sensei," a voice called out softly to her from one of the trees that she had yet to topple.

The pinkette did not look at the direction of the voice, but her relaxed stance showed that she knew exactly who it was talking to her.

"You should stop, you will exhaust yourself," Kakashi said quietly as he leapt out from the shadows and landed on the ground. He walked towards her, being mindful of his steps.

Sakura forced out a gentle smile as she turned to face the chunin. "Did you want to use the training ground? I am sorry for messing it up, I can find a earth user to come salvage it."

Kakashi could only stare at his favorite sensei silently. He had been training in one field a few training ground over and had immediately came to investigate when he felt the tremors. He watched Sakura destroy the vicinity for a good while until he decided enough was enough.

"Can I hug you, sensei?" he asked.

"Huh?" Sakura scratched her cheek in confusion, "umm..."

But before she could finish her sentence, Kakashi walked up to her and wrapped his arms tightly around hers. He was still a good few inches shorter than her and his spiky hair barely reached her shoulders. To be appropriate, he purposely did not lean his head forward.

A sudden urge to cry swarmed the pinkette and she returned the gesture with a light grip. Sakura placed her head atop of Kakashi's and held down a sniffle.

"I am such a mess, Kakashi-kun."

"No, you are not, Sakura-sensei," Kakashi was strangely calmer than he thought he would be, given the situation, "We all love you very much. Naruto-sensei, Rin, Obito, and I."

Sakura hiccuped as the first tear threatened to spill, "Thank you. But I have no such luck with man."

Kakashi pulled away, "Sakura-sensei, if you are willing to wait, I will be the best man you will ever know." He stood with a confidence that Sakura only saw once, during his final battle at the chunin exams.

A small laugh escaped the pinkette, "Didn't you know I only fall for men who grew up in times of war?"

"I knew that," Kakashi huffed, "You also only pick the ones that I can't win against in a battle."

Louder laughs boomed out of Sakura as she dropped to the ground and laid down facing the sky. The chunin waited patiently for the laughter to died down.

"Thank you for checking on me, Kakashi-kun," Sakura said in a near whisper, "I am done, so don't worry about me. I will just rest here for a little longer. Go back to what you were doing."

It was a command, not a suggestion. Kakashi leapt into the trees, but he stayed in the shadows for a brief moment - until he was certain that his beloved sensei was truly done with her rampage - then disappeared into the trees.

Sakura sighed aloud when Kakashi's chakra signature faded. She was such a failure for letting Naruto's student see her in such a state. She was supposed to be an almighty kunoichi, the Hokage's apprentice, and a trusted healer, but her ultimate weakness - her feelings - could turn her into a such a wreck.

She rolled to her side and was about to close her eyes when a figure came into the corner of her view. It seemed like a small rabbit, but there was no way a rabbit would hang around during her rampage. Sakura sat up and narrowed her eyes as the "rabbit" approached her.

It was a rabbit figurine made of wood and it was holding a purple flower in its mouth. It hopped gingerly towards the pinkette and held out the flower.

Sakura focused her senses and saw the chakra threads connecting the rabbit and the figure hiding in the trees. Tearing her gaze away from the man who obviously did not want to be seen, Sakura reached out and took the purple hyacinth from the rabbit.

Then it began to speak in the same voice as its weider, "Do you want to know something interesting?"

Sakura crossed her arms, "If it's about the meaning of this flower, then I already know it."

There was no hesitation, "I know you know and I mean it, I am sorry for how I acted. I was lucky that this flower grew around here."

"Then what is it that you want to tell me?"

There was a pause. "I have only failed one mission in my life and it was one that truly mattered."

Sakura laughed, "You failing a mission? How is that even possible? You are Sasori."

"I failed because of a kunoichi."

The medic felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably. He must be talking about the person whom he held affection for. "She must be an amazing kunoichi."

The little rabbit nodded and Sakura thought it was rather endearing, despite the situation.

"She is. She is selflessly kind, incredibly smart, ridiculously brave, insanely strong, and beyond beautiful that I am sure other men would fight me for her attention if they weren't afraid to die by my hands."

"I see..."

"But it's also because of all these qualities that made the people around her love her dearly. They would give their lives for her and she would do the same for them."

His words felt eerily familiar to Sakura.

"My mission was to woo her heart, you see. But I was afraid that she would choose the people she already loved over me. I was a coward who surrendered before even trying."

There was a long moment of silence as his words sunk in the pinkette. When she finally spoke, she was looking straight at Sasori's hidden figure. "I was your side mission?"

This time, his voice came from the trees instead of the rabbit's mouth, "Technically, you were my main mission."

A long moment of silence passed and Sasori began to feel anxious. Sakura did not move from her sitting position nor did she move her gaze. He knew she could not see him through the shade of the leafage, but Sasori felt like her eyes were piercing into his soul. He felt the familiar urge to back away and escape from the possibility of her rejection, but he had already came so far and a small part of him, after that encounter with the Uchiha, was telling him that his fear was for naughts.

Sasori watched nervously as the pinkette finally moved. Sakura gingerly picked up the now inanimate rabbit and placed it gently in her lap. Her eyes were examining the wooden animal as she spoke, "The Third requested this mission?"

The Suna-nin did not expect this question, but this kunoichi had surprised him over and over again that he just gave up predicting her next move. It was better, even enjoyable, to just hitch along for the ride and see where he could go with her.

"Yes," Sasori answered as the rabbit nodded.

"What was your mission exactly?" Sakura asked quietly.

Sasori swallowed heavily, "It was as I said, to woo you."

"And you failed?" there was something challenging about her tone of voice and the rabbit leapt out of Sakura's hands and dashed back into the shadows of the trees.

"Yes, I failed."

"What made you think you failed?" Sakura continued her questions as she stalked toward Sasori's hidden spot.

The red headed leapt down and met the pinkette at the base of the tree. His ember eyes locked with her emerald green ones. Sakura was covered in dirt and soot. Sasori instinctively reached out to wipe away a streak of dirt from her cheek and she let him.

"Answer me, Sasori," Sakura stated seriously.

His eyes gleamed as his confidence rose. Everything about the woman in front of him - her expression, posture, and voice - was telling him that he was an utter idiot and probably had been an utter idiot for much of his stay in Konoha. The hand that was on her cheek slowly moved to her head and he ran his fingers through the brown tinted tresses.

"You look better as a pinkette."

Green eyes narrowed, "don't change the topic."

"I didn't fail," Sasori smiled.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "You haven't succeeded either."

Ember eyes widen and Sasori's usually pale face turned even lighter. His hand dropped back to his side. That was when Sakura realized that teasing the emotionally inept man standing before her was probably not the wisest idea.

She quickly reached out and grabbed both of his hands, "What I meant was, you haven't completed the mission."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't wooed me yet!"

"But you are holding my hands and you rejected the Uchiha."

Sakura groaned, "This is not how it works! You haven't told me how you feel about me yet!"

Sasori stared at the kunoichi for a long while. Her eyes were gleaming with anticipation and the little pout that showed her frustration was beyond adorable. He knew what she wanted when she said his mission was incomplete, but he rather enjoyed having her attempt to drag it out of him.

"I love you."

Sakura blinked as a light blush crossed her face.

"I love you very much, Sakura."

She blinked again and was preparing to reply, but Sasori continued speaking.

"I was afraid to love again after I lost my parents and my best friend. I was content with turning myself into an emotionless puppet so that I never have to feel again, but then you came along and turned my world upside down. I started to love again. I didn't understand why I felt warmth when you were near, why seeing you made me want to smile, nor why I felt sad knowing we had to part. That annoying chunin made me realize that it was love and I told the Third that I would do anything to get you back. I had to get you back."

"Sa-"

"I need to take you back to Suna with me. I know that Suna is vastly different from Konoha, but I promise that I will do everything to make each day memorable. We can spend time in the green house. We can take Chiyo-Baa to sweets. We can help out at the hospital. We can even treat that chunin you like so much out to food. As long as you are there, I will do anything to make you happy."

"Saso-"

"I know that I am not as handsome nor tall as the Uchiha and I definitely did not hail from a prestigious clan. I only have a grandmother and grand-uncle and they are some of the strangest people you might have ever met, but our home is still warm … sometimes. I am not very sociable and most of the villagers are afraid of me, but for you, I will be more patient and accepting. And I promise that I-"

"Sasori!" Sakura yelled, breaking the red head's speech. "You are rambling."

Sasori's mouth stopped moving, but all his bottled up emotions were evident on his face. His dread, fear, worry, unease, panic, and despair were seeping through his eyes. But one emotion above all - love - was sprawled across the rest. He really did love the kunoichi in front him. Even a civilian child could tell.

Sakura reached out and held the man's face between her dusty hands. "Kiss me."

The Suna-nin did not need to be told twice as he immediately leaned forward and slanted his slightly chapped lips against the kunoichi's awaiting ones. Sakura did not taste like anything Sasori expected. She was not sugar sweet nor electrifying; she mostly tasted of dirt, but beneath that earthly flavor was something distinctly Sakura. It was everything that she was and he decided then and there that only he was allowed to touch her lips in this intimate manner.

Unlike Sasori, who had his eyes closed, Sakura's eyes were wide open from shock. At first, the pinkette was slightly concerned that the man in front of her probably had no idea what kissing really was, but she was deeply mistaken. She was further surprised as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a deeper kiss. His lips nudged hers open gently and Sakura felt like he was devouring her soul and savoring every bit of it.

When the red head finally pulled back, she could only stare at him blankly, "Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

A smirked crossed his face, "I am a prodigy."

All the frustration in Sakura had left by this point and she could not resist the urge to tease the man, "Is it safe to assume that I am your first kiss?"

Sasori nodded, "You are my first kiss, but I know I am not yours. Do not tell me who he was or his death will be over your head."

There was a moment of silence until Sakura laughed, "You ruined the moment."

 **Hello! Sorry for the long wait, but life. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it is rather short, but I still hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be the final chapter! Thank you for being with me this whole time. Lots of love.**


	14. Chapter 14: Good Bye

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 14: Good Bye**

The blonde woman scrutinized the man standing in front of her. It had only been a few hours since he was last in her office, acting like a bratty coward. Now, he was back in her office, standing side by side with her pupil, who looked a little worse for wear, but the bright smile on the pinkette's face told her all that she needed to know.

Tsunade groaned as she addressed the Suna-nin, "You should be thankful that I did not write a letter to your Kage yet. Failing a S-rank mission is serious business."

Sakura's eyes widen at the mention of "S-rank" and she turned sharply to Sasori, who did not falter at the slightest.

"I apologize, Hokage-sama," Sasori bowed, "I had a little push from someone after I left the tower."

Tsunade sighed again as she stood up from her chair and walked around her desk; she had her arms crossed as she addressed the two younger shinobis. She almost wanted to laugh at the situation; she felt like a mother preparing to lecture her perfect daughter who was asking to marry the worst rebel in town.

"Sasori, I need to speak with Sakura alone, please leave."

Sakura was slightly nervous, the last time she had heard Tsunade use such a nurturing tone was when she broke down crying after treating the Uchiha kunoichi. Her shishou was about to give her life advice, but it was up to her whether she heed them or not.

However, her unease faded when Sasori gently brushed her hair behind her ear and gave her a small smile. "I will wait for you at your apartment."

She nodded in response. Sasori then turned to Tsunade, bowed even more deeply than he did before, and left.

"What happened? I know you destroyed the training ground; I felt the tremors," Tsunade began grilling the pinkette.

Sakura swallowed, then smiled sheepishly, "There was some misunderstanding between us, but it is all good now."

The serious gleam in the Hokage's eyes made Sakura drop her smile immediately.

"Sakura, I hope you understand that I am talking to you as your shishou, as someone who cares about you. Not as your Hokage."

"I understand that shishou. You are like a mother to me," the younger kunoichi said earnestly.

"Good, then I want to know if this is really what you want. As official as the mission was, it was really just a side joke for the Kazekage. Do you truly love that man, Sakura?"

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

"Are you aware that he is a Suna-shinobi? He is in every bingo book, famous for his abilities during the last war. He is also the Kazekage's right hand man, he would be the next Kazekage if anything happens to the current Kazekage. His grandmother is also a Suna Elder," there was only seriousness in her statement.

Sakura nodded. She knew all of that and she was fairly sure she knew what Tsunade was trying to say. "And in contrast, I am a Konoha-kunoichi. I am the Hokage's disciple and will be the official head medic of the hospital once you retire. But I am sure we can make it work!"

"Sakura! You are not only that! You are also a part of the formidable Team 7, everyone's favorite medic, and one of the most beloved people in Konoha."

"But Shishou, I -" Sakura's words were halted when Tsunade held up her hand.

"We will miss you," the smile on the blonde's face was one of the brightest, yet saddest, that Sakura had ever seen. It was the definition of a farewell smile; one that was full of sorrow for parting, yet brimmed with excitement for the person whom one loved.

Sakura was silent as she stared at her shishou in surprise.

The blonde laughed at the pinkette's expression as she made her way back onto her chair. "I actually thought about this for a long time, ever since that Suna-nin arrived with his missions."

Sakura was slightly upset that Tsunade kept the mission a secret from her, but she was the Hokage after all. She walked closer toward the desk as Tsunade fished out a scroll from her drawers.

"To be honest, I have no problem with Sasori becoming my son-in-law. When I saw how you talked about him and how he treated you, I was rather relieved. You are important to me and I know he will be good for you. This is why I had everything planned out already, here is the scroll with the details."

Tsunade ignored how Sakura blushed at her comments and unrolled the scroll on her desk. The pinkette was surprised by how meticulous the details were. Her shishou was not lying when she said she had everything planned out; Sakura knew that any questions she could think of would have an answer.

"Read this scroll in your own time, but here are the main points," Tsunade let Sakura re-roll the scroll on her own, "Your shinobi affiliation will be Konoha until a Hokage give you permission to change or discard it. When I retire, I will be fully in charge of the hospital until a medic I deem capable could take over. Team 7 will not disband, but Naruto will be busy with his team and Sasuke has clan responsibilities. As for you, you will be assigned a long-term mission, with extension as needed, to Suna as a diplomat. You will be responsible for the duties of a diplomat, but the rest of your time is yours."

A laugh of joy escaped the pinkette as she leaned over the table and enveloped Tsunade in a tight hug. "I love you so much! You are the best!"

Sasori was anxious. He had never been this anxious in his life before; he knew Sakura would do anything to convince the Hokage to let them be together, but the uncertainty was eating him away. He pulled out a small paper bag from his pocket and grasped it tightly. He originally planned to gift the item to Sakura at the end of the festival, but a certain Uchiha had robbed him of that moment. Sasori supposed now was the time to present it to her, regardless of the Hokage's private meeting with Sakura.

The moment the pinkette's chakra signature came within range, Sasori leapt off the couch and all but flew to the door. He almost ripped it off its hinge, surprising Sakura who barely had time to pull her hand away from the doorknob. With his free hand, he pulled the kunoichi into the room and shut the door.

A mirthful giggle rung out as Sakura was lead straight to the couch, "Slow down, Sasori! I am not going anywhere!"

"So you have to stay in Konoha?" he asked. Sakura could sense the disappointment and disbelief in his voice.

"No, silly. I meant that I am not going anywhere right now," she reached out and touched his face, warmth spread throughout her body as he leaned into her hand with absolute certainty.

Sakura held out her other hand and Sasori grabbed it with both of his. "Meet the new Konoha diplomat that will be stationed in Suna, yours truly."

The pinkette almost lost her breath at the sight of the man. There was a serene glow adoring Sasori's pretty face. His boyish feature appeared younger than she had ever seen them; pure joy and hope glimmered in his ember eyes. But most importantly, she felt his entire being radiating complete devotion and adoration for her.

For a moment, Sakura wondered if he had always looked at her like that but she just had not appreciated it in such close proximity.

"However, I won't be going back with you when you leave. Our next Hokage will be named in two months' time and I will be staying in Konoha until after his inauguration. I have to transfer all my responsibilities and such before I can leave for Suna."

Sakura thought Sasori's dejected slump was rather adorable; she found it endearing that he was so open with his feelings around her.

"I understand. When the Third attends the inauguration, I will accompany him and take you back with me as soon as the festivities are over," Sasori said simply as he held out the paper bag that nearly perished in his death grip.

The medic lifted an eyebrow in curiosity as he opened it and pulled out a silver bracelet. It was simple, but elegant. She held out her hand and he secured it loosely around her wrist.

"This is beautiful, thank you."

Sasori lifted the hand and kissed the back of it, "This is proof that you are mine. Any man who believe otherwise will regret it."

Sakura laughed, then leaned forward to kiss the pretty boy who had came from a faraway land to whisk her away. "Two months will pass before you know it."

Today was the long awaited inauguration and it was exactly one month ago when Tsunade announced her retirement and Uchiha Itachi was named as her successor. To say the days following were chaotic was an understatement.

That very same day, the most ear piercing and depressing cries echoed across Konoha and its source was none other than the Uchiha district. Many Uchiha kunoichis were mourning - all devastated that the almighty Uchiha Itachi was no longer tied down to their clan and did not need an Uchiha as his wife. Shisui secretly thought it was hilarious, but he was wise enough to not let his mirth show.

Many shinobis, who were not part of the committee nor leaders of clans or departments, were shocked by the news. Many did not expect Uchiha Itachi to leave his clan leader position to Sasuke, but no one questioned his ability to lead their village. Some shinobis of other prestigious clans were skeptical at first, fearing the favoritism that the Uchiha might receive, but their respective clan heads explained that much consideration had been put into the decision and they had faith in the would-be Hokage.

Even though this announcement had caused an uproar in the village, it was not the main cause for the chaos that ensued. It was the following announcement, that Itachi announced a few days later that lead to the chaos.

"The first mission I will give as Hokage is sending a long-term diplomat to Suna to strengthen our relationship with this ally. I am certain that Haruno Sakura," he had looked at the pink haired woman who was standing proudly next to him, "will be able to help our alliance prosper and peace flourish."

All hell had broken loose. Unlike Itachi's case, Sakura's mission was only known to some - the Hokage, Itachi, the Kazekage, her teammates, some hospital staffs, and her closest friends. Sakura was surprised when civilians and shinobis alike flooded her, some found her at the hospital, while others waited by places that they knew she frequented. Many were sad that she was leaving Konoha, but all were excited for her.

The majority of the hospital staff suspected that this mission had something to do with the Suna-shinobi who had an extended stay and none let Sakura live a day without some form of teasing or congratulations. To all their inquiries, Sakura only blushed and smiled and it was answer enough.

A few days prior to inauguration, Sakura was roped into a sleepover with Ino, Tenten, and Hinata. Technically, she was forced to host by Ino, but that was minor details. All four kunoichis were sitting comfortably in the cozy living room; it had been a long time since there was a hangout like this.

Ino swept her eyes across the room, noting that all mementos were already picked away. It made her slightly sad knowing that soon she could not barge into this apartment and demand to go clubbing whenever she wanted. Sakura was and always would be her best friend, even if they were far apart. She held back some tears as she smacked the pinkette's back, surprising her, "I knew it would be a flower boy who would take you away from me."

"And she tried to deny it," teased Tenten.

"You helped him out!" Sakura accused, "He told me that it was all a facade that time Itachi and I bumped into you two at the sweet shop!"

"Tsk, now he is all honest," Ino huffed.

"You should have told me to help, Ino!" Tenten laughed, "it would have been so much fun!"

"You are not the most tactful, Ten," the blonde retorted and the brunette threw a cushion at her.

Sakura jumped up, "Pillow fight!"

That night, after Tenten and Hinata had fallen asleep, Ino and Sakura stayed up until sunrise, reminiscing about the first day that they met and all that they had been though.

"I knew you would blossom. Even in a desert, you will thrive," Ino smiled.

"And I will never forget who helped me," Sakura smiled back.

It was a rather cold day in the country of Fire, but all of Konoha still gathered at the center of the village, to celebrate the Sixth Hokage's inauguration. All Konoha shinobi were dressed in a white cloak with the word fire on its back. People were chattering loudly until Tsunade appeared at the top of the tower and began her speech.

Sasuke was preparing to release a large yawn, but Sakura elbowed him before it could come out. The tallest member of Team 7 glared down at the kunoichi, who returned his stare, "Be more respectful, Sasuke-kun! This is your brother's inauguration, I can't believe I am saying this, but be like Naruto!"

Next to the whispering pair, Naruto was staring at the top of the Hokage tower with pure excitement gleaming in his eyes. He longed to be at that exact spot, but that time was still fairly faraway. He cheered louder than everyone else, maybe except Shisui, as Itachi stepped out into view in his sixth Hokage robe.

The crowd cheered as Itachi accepted the Kage's hat and addressed the people - both civilians and shinobis - as their new Hokage. Once his speech was finished, everyone clapped and went back to their festivities. Sakura smiled at Sasuke and Naruto as she linked arms with them and headed toward the tower.

As Sasori had said, the Third Kazekage had came to witness the inauguration. The Tsuchikage had also attended, claiming he wanted to meet the medic that one of his most annoying nobles always requested. He had a small banter with the Kazekage, arguing that it was unfair that Konoha's prized medic kunoichi was going to be Suna's diplomat instead of Iwa's, but it was all in good humor.

Sakura and Naruto greeted both kages politely as Sasuke left their side to take a photo with Itachi. It was important that Naruto built strong relationships with other villages if he wanted to take Itachi's place someday and Sakura was proud that he was putting in all his efforts to do so. She refrained from speaking as she watched Naruto, she was going to miss him. A lot.

However, her little bit of sadness vanished when she made eye contact with the man standing behind the Third Kazekage. He was dressed as a jounin, instead of his usual ANBU regalia. The Kazekage had deemed it unnecessary for such an event and besides, everyone in Konoha already knew what he looked like. There was a ghost of a smile as he looked at her and Sakura felt her heart skip a beat.

Two days later, Itachi, now Hokage, had personally came to the main gates to bid farewell to the visiting kages and his diplomat. He gave a firm handshake to the Tsuchikage, who gave him one last congratulatory pat on his shoulder before bounding out of the village with his guards. Itachi then turned to the Kazekage and did the same thing. Last, but not least, he faced Sakura.

There was love in his eyes as he reached out and hugged her, surprising much of the people that were surrounding them. He whispered gently in her ear and poked her forehead as he pulled back. The pinkette smiled warmly in return. She still loved her favorite Uchiha captain, but it was not the same love that he harbored for her.

With the goodbyes said, the group bound for Suna backed away and faded into the distance.

 _Fin_

 **Just kidding! An epilogue is coming y'all!**


	15. Chapter 15: Shine

**The Deal**

 **Chapter 15: Shine**

Sakura released a loud groan as she stretched out her arms above her head. She had just finished reading a history book about the Land of the Wind that she borrowed from the library. If she was going to be a good diplomat, she needed to understand the people of Suna and the country in which they resided. Since her arrival - scratch that, return -, she had already read several books and became good friends with the librarians. Sakura thought about what to borrow next as she got up from her chair, tucked the book under one arm, and then made her way out of the green house.

The enormous glass structure, filled to the brim with various plants and foliages, was the biggest surprise that Sakura received when she had returned to Suna. The building rivalled the Kazekage's greenhouse in size and content. Everything within the greenhouse was personally designed and created with the pinkette in mind; from the pristine lab benches to the artificial waterfall that kept the space humid. Sakura loved this place and often spend more time here than the actual house in which Sasori shared with her.

During the two months before Sakura left Konoha, Sasori had requested time off and took out much of his savings for his "not-so-little" project. He had acquired a plot of land at the outskirts of the village, but still easy roof-hopping distance to the hospital and Kazekage tower. Then he personally designed and built a house, mixed with both Suna and Konoha culture, and the greenhouse. He had some help from his grandmother and the Kazekage, but they both admitted that it was mostly this love-struck man's effort.

Sakura had been speechless when Sasori had first lead her to the property and explained that it was all hers to use during her stay, which he secretly hoped was for forever. The pinkette had jumped into his arms and he returned the hug just as tightly. It had been several weeks since Sakura had settled in and made the place more homely and welcoming.

At first, the pinkette felt strange adjusting to her diplomatic position, because working as a diplomat meant she spent a lot less time in the hospital. However, as the previous Hokage's apprentice, Sakura was accustomed to political events and meetings. She was proving her worth as a diplomat; much of the nobles and political figures tied to the Land of the Wind were already wrapped around her fingers. She was proud of her work and the Third often teased that she was much better company than Sasori when they were trapped at fancy dinners.

Sakura shielded her eyes from the bright sun rays as she made her way back to the house. However, just as she was preparing to make dinner for Sasori and herself, several loud knocks came from the door. She quickly went to open it; everyone in Suna knew this house belonged to Sasori and herself and knew this was the best place to find them if needed.

When she opened the door, a chunin gasped out of breath, "Sakura-san, we need you at the hospital!"

The pinkette shut the door behind her and lead the way to the hospital, "What is the situation?"

Unlike in Konoha, Suna's medics were still lacking. Hence, Sakura was often asked to assist with more difficult cases. Hopefully, with her extended stay, she could help train more medics during her free time. As of now, she was making plans with the Third to develop an ideal schedule for her to teach at the hospital while maintaining her diplomatic duties.

The chunin replied, "An upper class official from Iwa had arrived with his escort team. They were ambushed at the borders by some rouges. According to one of their nins, their charge panicked and injured himself and is demanding to see you and only you."

Sakura halted, causing the other shinobi to nearly crash into her. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," the teenager nodded, "He is being difficult at the hospital despite Tomoe-san explaining that even the newest medic at the hospital is capable of treating him. From the looks of the Iwa-shinobis' faces, this man must be rather hard to deal with; they all looked like they wanted to kill him."

"Let that man suffer," Sakura huffed, "We can walk there. He isn't dying anytime soon."

True to her words and to the chunin's slight fear, the pinkette took her sweet time strolling towards the hospital. It took almost triple the usual time, but no one mentioned that when she finally arrived. Sakura was immediately lead to the VIP room; she could hear the official complaining inside.

When she entered, she had a fake smile plastered on her face. The nurse being subjected to the man's ranting quickly greeted her and scurried out of the room.

"Haruno Sakura!" he grinned, "What an honor to see you! Only you can help me, I am a very important person after all."

The pinkette was certain that she heard a snicker and a small "oof" from the Iwa shinobis standing further in the room. Seemed like the chunin was right, even that man's escorts disliked him.

"Hello," Sakura bowed, "I technically do not work at the hospital; it is only out of my friendship with the Kazekage and people of Suna that I assist in the hospital occasionally. I hope you understand, Yamada-san."

"I understand," he nodded, "I am honored that you know my name!"

Sakura wanted to groan. She was not stupid, she had done her homework and memorized many nations' officials' names and faces. It was part of her responsibilities and she took that very seriously.

"Yamada-san, what is the problem? You seem well to me."

"I twisted my ankle during the ambush," he answered, "It hurts to walk."

"Excuse me," Sakura sighed under her breath as she reached for the ankle that he was obviously babying. She waved her hand over it, after a green glow, the man's eyes lit up and he placed the foot on the ground.

"That was amazing!" he clapped.

Sakura stepped back to a respectful distance, "That was a very low level healing; even the medics in training could do it with ease. Please be more careful in the future. Now, if you will excuse me."

The pinkette ignored Yamada and his would-be reply and addressed the shinobis in the room. She quickly scanned her eyes over them. It was a four man squad. She recognized the tallest man with light brown hair, he was the shinobi that went to Konoha with poisoned teammates. The other three were also male, one had orange hair and the other two were blonde, one had short hair and the other had long hair. They were all in standard Iwa shinobi gear and looked a little ruffled up. Sakura knew they had been observing her since she had entered, but these nins would not be stupid enough to do anything reckless in foreign territory.

She smiled at Gou, the one she had met before, "Long time no see, Gou-san."

He seemed genuinely surprised that she remembered him, "Hello again, Sakura-san." They both ignored Yamada's gasp behind them.

"I heard there was an ambush, is your team okay?" Sakura approached them carefully, fully aware that some shinobis were extremely skirmish around medics.

Gou looked at this teammates and back at the pinkette, "Umm. I got some scratches, as for the team..."

The two with shorter hair said in unison, "We also only got scratches."

Sakura looked at the last man on the team, who narrowed his eyes at her, "I am not going to let a foreign medic treat me even if I am hurt."

"So you are hurt," Sakura nodded, ignoring the baffled face the blonde gave her.

Gou quickly interjected, "I apologize, Sakura-san! Deidara is not very polite."

She waved her hand dismissively, "No worries. Gou-san, please escort your less childish teammates and Yamada-san out. Tomoe-san can treat your injuries. I will take care of this one here. Deidara, you said?"

Normally, Sakura would squash down her annoyance and respect foreign shinobis even if they did not deserve her consideration, but an injured shinobi - foreign or not - who acted like a butt in the hospital was an exception.

After the crowd left the room, the medic stared at the blonde, who returned her gaze with hostile intensity. "Where are you hurt, Deidara-san?"

"It is as I said, I won't let a foreign medic heal me. I don't trust you," he bit back. Then under his breath, which Sakura barely caught, he mumbled, "especially not one from Konoha."

Sakura crossed her arms, "What do you have against Konoha-nins? If I am not mistaken, Iwa is one of the nations eagerly making an alliance with Konoha. Your kage even came to our kage's inauguration."

"It's none of your business," Deidara bit back, "and I still won't let you touch me."

She sighed as she glanced over him. It was clear that he was not in any obvious pain, but there was something wrong with him - call it medic's instinct. Sakura held one hand up to swear, "I promise I won't touch you more than necessary or cause any bodily harm. Medic's honor."

The blonde still seemed suspicious, but Sakura noted that his posture did relax slightly. After another few minutes of staring, Deidara relented. He rarely required the assistance of a medic, even back in Iwa. The few times he saw one were when his shishou forced him to get his infected burns checked out. The only time that he actually had one save his life was after an encounter with a Konoha shinobi; the memory of a black haired ANBU with glowing red eyes would never fade from his memory.

He turned to the side, showing Sakura his back. There was a relatively long gash from his shoulder to the tricep. It seemed that the blood had already clotted. Sakura sighed. That stupid official wasted so much time that even a large wound was able to seal itself. She appreciated that the nin did not react as she reached out and allowed a green glow to cover the wound. The cut disappeared without a trace of a scar within a few minutes.

Deidara checked out the medic's handiwork from the corner of his eyes. She was as good as rumors said. He was about to leave and find his team when the pinkette stopped him.

"I don't mean to be nosy," Sakura said quietly, "But you seem very familiar to me. If I am not wrong, you are the Tsuchikage's discipline. How did you get this cut when your team only got scratches?" If there was a formidable shinobi among the rouges, she felt the need to report to the Kazekage.

Deidara huffed, "I was sent on this stupid escort mission because I blew up part of the Tsuchikage tower by accident and some idiots got hurt. My usual weapon of choice was confiscated as well and I totally forgot about that during the battle, since that Yama-whatever-san was so annoying. Satisfied?"

Sakura stared at him. She knew that the Tsuchikage had a very powerful discipline who specialized in explosives, but she never thought that he could be so heartless. The Tsuchikage was rather funny and wise, how could his man in front of her be his apprentice?!

Suddenly, the blonde leaned forward and stared deep into her eyes, "I know you cause just as much collateral damage as I do." Then he pulled back with a smirk, "If you are done, I have to find my team. See you, Haruno Sakura."

Sakura glared at his back as the blonde walked out of the room, "What a brat!" The pinkette knew that the blonde Iwa-nin was younger than her based on the bingo books and that was no way to treat his elder! Her disrespect to Sasori was the only exception.

The kunoichi took a deep breath as she stalked out after him. She was a civil woman, she was just going to go home, make tea and dinner, then read in peace until Sasori returned. Her plan was completely ruined as she was nearly ran over by one of the nurses.

"What is wrong, Soyu?" Sakura asked.

"The official wanted you to guide him and his escorts to the Kazekage tower," the girl gulped, "He said he'd feel safer with another foreign shinobi in the room."

Sakura was about to snap until Soyu whispered softly, "Sasori-san is probably with the Kage. You know he isn't as polite with foreigners as you are. I am sure the Third would appreciate your presence."

"Fine," the pinkette grumbled.

The walk to the tower was surprisingly not unbearable. As annoying as Yamada seemed, he was still polite towards Sakura. He actually asked and spoke about the different nations with respect and Sakura appreciated that. This man was at least tolerable, but on the other hand, the blonde that she treated was slowly getting on her nerves. He stared at her the whole time and seemed to enjoy it.

Sakura thanked the heavens when they were invited into the Third' office immediately. Both the Third and Sasori were slightly surprised at the pinkette's appearance, but did not outwardly show it.

"Welcome to Suna," the Third greeted the people of Iwa. Then he turned to Sakura, "What brings you here, Sakura-san?"

"I insisted that she guide us after she treated us at the hospital," Yamada answered for the kunoichi, who discreetly rolled her eyes.

"I see," The Third nodded, "Well, it is late, I will have a chunin take you and your escorts to your resident. We will meet again in the morning. A chunin will take you here."

Yamada looked at Sakura, "Can't Haruno-san guide us? She is good company."

Sasori wanted to laugh at the exasperated expression on his lover's face, but he himself was rather annoyed at the civilian as well. This pink haired, almighty kunoichi was his. Alliance or not, any man who even thought of his blossom in an inappropriate way was going to die. However, before Sasori nor the Third could speak up, Sakura walked to Sasori's side and turned to face Yamada, "I have already assisted you out of the kindness of my heart. The chunin responsible for you during your stay will be here shortly. I must leave your presence."

"What about dinner?" Yamada insisted, "My treat."

Sasori's eye twitched slightly and Deidara noticed. He had heard about this red head and completely disagreed with his shinobi ways. Life was supposed to be fleeting and colorful, but this man twisted death into lifeless dolls that were just so dull. He supposed that this Suna-nin was powerful in his own ways, but Deidara had every right to dislike him.

The Third stood up, "Sakura-san has a prior engagement, but you will see her again during our meeting."

Yamada, who finally gave up, nodded as a chunin entered the room. He introduced himself and lead the Iwa group away.

"I am assuming I don't have the day off tomorrow," Sakura asked the Third, who childishly made a face at the closed door.

"Sorry about that, Sakura," he sighed, "I will let Sasori go early so you two can enjoy dinner out."

Sasori narrowed his eyes, "I am off in five minutes."

"Be grateful for the five minutes, why can't you appreciate me more?"

Sakura laughed softly whereas Sasori ignored the older man as the pair left the office. The pinkette smiled warmly at him as Sasori gently brushed her hair behind her ear. "What would you like for dinner?"

"Maki said a new restaurant opened by the markets, let's go there?"

Sasori nodded as Sakura linked her arm with his. Everyone in Suna knew that Sasori and Sakura were an item, from civilians to shinobis. At first, people were curious whether their terrifying ANBU had managed to chase down the lovely medic, but when Sakura moved in with Sasori, there was no need for explanation. Sakura thought rumors spread fast in Konoha, but there was no comparison with Suna; the news spread like wildfire in this scorched and windy village.

When they arrived at the restaurant, there was a long line of people already. Sakura looked at Sasori, who smiled, "I am not very hungry. We can wait. There is an errand that I wanted to run, would you mind waiting alone for a little while?"

Sakura shook her head, "I don't mind." Sasori had changed a lot since Sakura had came into his life. He was more patient, smiled a little more, and did not give people spine-tingling chills when he approached. Sakura was good for him, which in turn, was good for Suna and its inhabitants.

The red head pecked Sakura's forehead, then disappeared down the crowded streets. Sakura quickly got in line and was greeted by others already in line. She was literally the only natural pinkette in all of Suna; everyone knew who Haruno Sakura was and what she looked like. Unless they lived under a rock for the last year of course.

Sakura was happily chatting with the couple in front of her when a hand tapped her shoulder. She turned and came face to face with the Iwa-nin from earlier. "Deidara-san?"

He grinned, "I thought you looked familiar."

"Aren't you supposed to be with your charge?" Sakura asked, peeking around his shoulder. If Yamada-san had followed her, then that man really needed a beating.

Deidara laughed at her reaction, "He is not here. We have shifts and I am off right now." The kunoichi did not need to know that he threatened the team leader to let him take the first break.

"I see," Sakura could see a familiar redhead in the distance, "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you and wanted to say hi," Deidara answered, "You are very interesting, so I wanted to talk to you."

She narrowed her eyes, "What happened to not liking Konoha-nins?"

"Correction, I don't like Konoha ANBU, but you are not ANBU," Deidara stood closer, "So if you don't mind, can I join you for dinner?"

"I have to ask my date," Sakura looked at Sasori, who was standing behind Deidara, "what do you say?"

The Iwa-nin whipped around and Sasori titled his head back to dodge the long ponytail; he had a sudden flashback of Sakura's best girlfriend. He looked at the blonde, then back at Sakura, "Whatever you want, love."

Sakura wanted to giggle as Deidara took a step back from Sasori. "Ah, Akasuna no Sasori," he looked back at Sakura, "I see why you are Konoha's diplomat now."

"Yes," she grinned, "But you can still join us for dinner if you'd like."

"If your boyfriend doesn't mind."

"I don't mind," Sasori answered as he looked at the younger shinobi. If Sakura chose him over Uchiha Itachi, there was no way he would lose to this teenager.

Dinner was quite fun in Sakura's opinion. Sasori did not speak much, but he did not mind listening to Sakura and Deidara's chatter. The Iwa shinobi reminded him of Naruto and Ino and he was glad that Sakura was having fun. They were having a heated discussion about their destructive techniques when the orange haired Iwa shinobi appeared.

"Deidara! I was looking for you everywhere! Your break is over, it's your turn to watch that Yama-whatever."

The blonde groaned as he stood, "Hope to see you again, Sakura. Bye, Sasori-san."

"See you," Sakura waved as the Iwa-shinobis left. Deidara was not too bad after talking to him. He was obviously narcissistic, but he made good conversation.

Later that night, Sakura and Sasori were sitting on the ground in the greenhouse. The stars shined brightly through the glass roof, the little waterfall splashes sung a gentle melody, and the flowers that only bloomed at night released a faint sweet scent. It was warm in the greenhouse, which meant Sakura did not have to freeze to death whenever she wanted to stargaze. The few nights when she missed Konoha, she would come here and Sasori would bring her her favorite tea.

Tonight, however, was not of those nights. It was Sasori who asked Sakura to come to the greenhouse this time. The pinkette did not question it as she admired the starry sky. Suddenly, a shooting star bolted across the sky and Sakura screamed, "Quick, make a wish!" She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together.

When she opened them again, she smiled blindingly at Sasori, "Did you make a wish?"

"I only have one wish," Sasori replied as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

Green eyes widen as a ring that could rival the stars' shine was revealed. "Marry me, Sakura."

A bright blush lined her cheeks, "That was not a question."

"It wasn't," Sasori took her hand and gently slipped the ring into place. "You are mine and I am yours."

 **Fin!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this story. It was a long way coming, but we are here at last! I somehow really like this Suna-verse. If I ever get feels again, be prepared to be bombarded by new stories!**


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